StarCraft: Brain Damage
by Toasterman
Summary: A rather long-running story set after the Brood War following the adventures and mis-adventures of a strange group of individuals including a Marine, Ghost, Reaper, Medic, Probe, Zealot and more as the series progresses. Completed.
1. Chapter 1

StarCraft: Brain Damage

Author's Note: So this story started out as a crossover from another series called Neon Genesis Evangelion, so there are a few characters from that show in here. That being said, towards the begining of this series I knew next to nothing about StarCraft's extremely deep extra-game content. After a bit I started to fix that and if you see ANY problems at all in the first few chapters involving simple stuff from the universe, please let me know in a review as I want to fix it. My chapters aren't very long at all as you can see, but that's done to purposely preserve the feeling of it being a random adventure akin to a summer movie blockbuster. I only posted the first ten chapters, and if you'd like to see more leave a review. I've got around thirty more in a file on my desktop. Please R&R!

**Sta**r**Craft: Brain Damage**

Chapter 1: Hot Landing

The Raynor's Raiders dropship was accomplishing exactly what it was designed and manufactured to do: drop. On a more specific level, it was dropping through the atmosphere of the former Confederacy Capital planet Tarsonis. All around it were many more dropships of the same attack force. Altogether, the invasion force numbered 6,700 strong.

Mostly Marines, like one of the six men on the particular dropship in question. Private Jim Goss sat in his bulky ballistic combat armor with his visor flipped up out of his face and his C14 Impaler rifle butt-down between his feet. Around him was the rest of his 'team'. In fact, Jim didn't really know any of them that well when he thought about it.

The red-suited Reaper next to him, Nick McCabe, he had worked with on three or four battles before this and felt that he understood the ex-serial killer well enough. The others, though, he didn't know at all. The only other standard Marine on the dropship was Private Jordan Houston who was busy reading a letter from his girlfriend across the bay from Jim.

Next to him was a big Firebat troop named Jack something or other. Jim didn't really give a shit what his name was, but he'd just made a pact with Nick to warn each other if they ended up standing next to him in combat to avoid getting caught up in the inevitable fireball explosion. The guy looked unstable and Jim wanted no part in getting to know him.

Which was more than he could say for the red suited Ghost at the end of the bench. He hadn't asked the redhead's name yet, but he did notice that he had significantly less crotch room in his battle suit when he looked at her for an extended period of time.

The final person on the dropship was the medic, Ayanami. She had her hair dyed blue and Jim didn't like her that much. She had been late for the loading of the dropships due to sleeping in and then eating breakfast late. To be perfectly honest, Jim wasn't terribly thrilled to be going into combat with any of them besides the Ghost and retired murderer next to him.

"Fucking bitch!" Jordan shouted suddenly, throwing the letter across the cabin.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked, putting his big red hand on the Marine's shoulder, showing that either they'd worked together before or that the Firebat was very friendly.

"She's fucking another guy! That slutty bitch!" Jordan exclaimed, now crying.

"It's okay man, I'm sure its just because she wants some cock," Jack reasoned.

Jordan pushed him away and started unholstering his flak pistol.

"That didn't really help," Nick muttered,

"Well I didn't see you offering any consolation!" Jack countered.

"Should he really give a shit?" Jim put in as he watched Jordan slide the barrel of his flak pistol into his mouth and place his finger on the trigger.

There was a loud bang and the bullet punched through Jordan's head, out the back and through the dropship's thin wall, throwing it off balance and sending it tumbling through the air towards the ground. Jim could still hear Nick laughing hysterically at the rapid range of emotion that the Marine had experienced so fast leading up to his suicide even over the sound of the howling wind.

The Ghost slid along the wall towards the hole, being the lightest thing in the transport area. She hit it and Jim remembered a movie he had seen where a person was sucked out of a hole that small in a long strand of pieces. That drove him to jump across the troop bay and grab her by the arm. He pulled her back and kicked a crate full of ammo into place to stop the venting of air and stabilize the craft.

"Wow, thanks," she said as she caught her breath, "I owe you one."

Jim nodded and looked at her face, feeling his legs go weak. She had a slim night vision monocular over her left eye that made her facial features even more pronounced and beautiful. And the very revealing Ghost armor didn't do anything to stop her sex appeal.

"You could start by telling me your name," Jim offered meekly for a man in such big armor.

She looked up at him for a moment as if deciding, then said. "My name's Asuka. Asuka Langley Soryu."

"Jim Goss," he said and shook her hand.

"Hate to break it up, but we're landing," Nick said from where he stood next to the ramp.

"Okay, let's rock and roll!" Jim said and readied his Impaler rifle.

The ramp dropped and a Zergling jumped straight at his face.


	2. Chapter 2

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 2: Into the Wastelands**

Jim smacked the Zergling with his left hand and sent it yelping like a dog to the dirt-covered ground off to the side. Before it could get up he sprayed it with a quarter clip of ammo, causing it to rip apart into a puddle of red blood and fleshy chunks. Jim moved his bulkily armored body to the side to allow Nick to hop down after him.

The Reaper fired twelve quick shots with one of his pistols and blew a Zergling off its feet and twenty yards back through the air with blood spraying out of the bullet holes in its chest. Jack was the next person off, causing both Jim and Nick to step aside and let the walking incendiary disaster pass. Jack turned and looked at them, obviously angry about something.

"Okay, seriously, this is gonna get old quick. Why do you guys keep on avoiding me?" the Firebat asked, "I'm not gonna explode or something."

Just then, a Hydralisk popped out of the ground twenty feet behind Jack and launched an acid-covered spike out of its back. The super heated spike smashed into the fuel tank on Jack's back, thus engulfing him in a rather large explosion considering the size of the tank. Though Jim and Nick were both out of the damaging range of the explosion itself; they didn't get out of it totally unscathed.

"God that's disgusting!" Jim groaned as he wiped a lung off of his visor.

Nick started laughing at him until a piece of Jack's leg armor hit him in the head and knocked him off balance.

A Goliath lumbered up and put two rounds out of one of its auto cannons into the Hydralisk, blowing the angry scythe-armed creature in two. A group of twenty Zerglings rushed the mech and clambered up its sides, banging away with their arms and teeth on the steel armor.

"Mop 'em off!" a Marine from one of the other dropships shouted.

Jim aimed at a Zergling and was about to fire when he heard a crack from next to him and saw the dog-sized animal poof into goo. Looking down, he saw the Ghost, Asuka, holding her C-10 canister rifle to her shoulder.

"Am I in your way or something?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"Yes actually," she said, pivoting her rifle in line with his head, "You are."

Jim threw himself to the side and she fired. Hearing the sound of a bullet breaking through carapace, Jim looked around to see that she'd actually saved him from a rather pissed-off Hydralisk. The creature clunked to the ground and Jim looked over at Asuka.

"Thanks," he said.

"Not a problem," she replied and concentrated back on the swarmed Goliath.

Jim rolled over and fired from a prone position, wiping the remaining Zerglings off of the two-legged machine in a controlled spray that emptied his clip.

"Goliath clear," the pilot of the mech said over the radio before making his machine kick an injured Zergling like a football across the open field and up against a dropship, cracking the animal's spine.

"Dropships movin' out," said one of the dropship pilots as the row of big transport crafts started to lift off into the air, "Good luck boys and girls."

Jim heard a Marine shout out something incoherent in fright and turned to see a wave of Mutalisks rushing through the sky right near the ground, causing tree leaves to blow off their branches in passing.

"Engage!" shouted a Marine sergeant over the radio.

And the entire force did, sending countless thousands of projectiles into the oncoming wave. Mutalisks dropped like flies against the shear force of the onslaught. A good percentage, however, coughed up their glave worm payload that smashed through the sides of the retreating dropships and sent them spiraling to the ground belching smoke out of their ruined hulls.

As the bat-like flying Zerg formation turned in a high helix for another run at the ground troops, Jim realized that they could take them out, but not without sustaining high casualties.

Thankfully, a wing of Wraith attack aircraft chose that moment to sweep in behind the Mutalisks and hit them with every Gemini missile in their combined arsenal. The missiles smashed into the Zerg flyers and knocked them out of the sky in a brilliant show of gore and fireworks mixed in with a background of death shrieks from the dying aliens.

The ground troops whooped and hollered in victory as the Wraiths jetted overhead and arched back up into the sky to dock with the command ship in orbit.

Jim dropped the clip out of his Impaler, while Nick reloaded his dual pistols and Asuka pulled another magazine out of her belt. In a symphony of clacks, the trio made themselves lethal again and prepared to move out on orders from, quite literally, above. Ayanami ran over in her white medic suit holding an Impaler rifle.

"Where the hell'd you get that thing?" Jim asked, knowing that as a medic she shouldn't be normally carrying a gun.

"I took it off Jordan. Didn't think he'd really need it anymore," she said with a shrug.

"Makes sense," Nick reasoned absentmindedly.

"Damn strait it does," Ayanami said with a huff, "I don't want to get killed out here anymore than you do."

"_Roll out!_" a very confident voice said over the radio, instigating quick movement from the Marines, Firebats, Medics, Goliaths and Ghost in the field.


	3. Chapter 3

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 3: Something to Shoot**

At 0300, the entire invasion force had been split up into separate companies and sent on their own individual missions by Raynor. Each company was 100 units strong, made up of whatever best suited the job at hand. Which meant that Jim's company had dick-shit in the way of heavy equipment. Moving fast and quietly was the main focus behind their task force.

They were being sent out behind enemy lines to find a bunker where an ex-Confederate scientist was still holding up with a weapon rumored to be able to stop the Zerg. It wasn't known what the weapon did or if it even existed, but apparently Raynor thought it was worth a shot. That was probably why he had sent his best Ghost out with them.

In his heavy armor Jim looked much, much bigger than the woman walking next to him did. Asuka kept casually glancing around; looking for any threat to their marching formation, which was lined up single file. Or would have, if they themselves hadn't been breaking the rule. But since she was in charge no one was going to complain or risk getting either A) the hell kicked out of them by the muscle-bound Marine next to her, or B) get a canister round in the face by Asuka herself.

Maybe there was even a third option, depending on how Nick felt about lapsing back into creepy-ass serial killer mode.

"So, where'd you grow up?" Asuka asked him.

"Mar Sara," Jim said, "And you? Wait, never mind, stupid question."

"Yeah kinda," Asuka agreed, "So, did you know Raynor before this whole thing? I hear he's from Mar Sara."

"I'm a lot younger than him, but yeah I remember him. He was the Marshal of the area we lived in," Jim explained.

"And when he started the Raiders you just joined him?" she asked.

"I was in Duke's Alpha Squadron when the Confederacy still existed. I never really liked that asshole, and Mensk wasn't my type if you catch my drift," Jim told her.

"So you just picked the lesser of three evils or what?"

Jim shook his head. "No, I like Raynor more than any commander I could ever think of. I'd follow him anywhere."

"Strong words," she mused, "I like it."

"Enough about me, though, what about you?" he asked.

Asuka opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Nick, who was walking two people in front of them.

"Zerg!" he shouted and chucked a D8 charge up the bank of the canyon they were walking through.

Jim tracked it with his eyes and saw it latch onto a rock under a Defiler, beep twice, and blow up in an explosion that destroyed both the scorpion-like alien as well as the rock it was standing on. Asuka's C10 canister rifle barked six times in what seemed like an instant and four Zerglings and a Hydralisk met their ends in explosive splashes of red.

A Marine screamed as around sixteen Hydralisk acid spikes penetrated his armor and sent him reeling onto the ground. The kid's finger still held onto his trigger, however, resulting in a stray spike round hitting a Firebat's fuel tank. Instantly, ten more Marines' vital signs flatlined.

"We can't hold out much longer!" Jim shouted over the collective gunfire from the entire company opening fire.

"Don't you think I fucking know that!" Asuka shouted back, firing her rifle with deadly accurate shots.

A Marine dropped next to Jim with a Zergling gnawing at his face through the cracked visor. Jim fired a quick burst and blew the smaller type of Zerg off of the most certainly dead Marine. Jim looked up at the top of the canyon and saw a Hydralisk start to bunch its back muscles up in the direction of Asuka, signifying it was about to fire an acid spike at her exposed back.

Taking aim, Jim pulled the trigger in anticipation of recoil and a spray of blood from the Hydralisk. Instead, he was rewarded with a click and an empty bolt. Cursing, Jim threw his empty Impaler aside and picked up a dead Marine's ballistic combat shield. He dove up behind Asuka just in time to catch the acid spike on the shield. Half of it was sticking through and hovering just in front of his visor, threatening to drip acid through it and onto his exposed eye.

He calmly adjusted the shield so that it wouldn't drip and valiantly took another spike. The second thudded hard enough to knock the shield back into his helmet violently.

"You want to take care of that!?" he shouted to her over his shoulder.

"Take care of what!?" she shouted back.

"The fucking Hydralisk!" Jim shouted.

Asuka took a quick peek over his shield and saw what he meant. Then she jumped fully up and fired three shots, all three hitting the ranged Zerg in the neck with enough force to blow its head off.

Further down the canyon, Nick pinned a Zergling to the rock wall with one arm and shot it in the head at point blank range with the other.

"I need help over here!" shouted a Firebat from behind him.

Turning, Nick saw that the Firebat was in reality beyond help. Lying on the ground, the squirming flame-thrower troop had seven Zerglings swarming all over him stabbing at the weak points in his armor. Calmly, Nick took aim at the Firebat's fuel tank with one of his pistols.

"I got your help right here," he said and squeezed the trigger.

The resulting explosion killed every Zergling as well as the Firebat. Nick viewed it as a cost-effective use of a bullet. Just then, Asuka and Jim ran up with ten remaining Marines.

"Come on! We're leaving!" Jim shouted.

"Why and where?" Nick asked.

"Why?" Ayanami asked from where she stood in the group of Marines, "Because everyone's fucking dead and they've got more troops coming! Look!"

Nick did look and saw that there were too many Zerg to count crawling out of holes in the canyon walls, turning toward them with deadly intent.

"Oh, so I take it we're running that way?" Nick pointed the other direction from the Zerg rush.

"You think?" Jim asked sarcastically.

Nick didn't wait and instead jump jetted ahead of the rest of the company. Soon, the rest of them were right behind him running scared for their lives and leaving their eighty seven dead behind for the aliens to feed off of.


	4. Chapter 4

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 4: Big Gay Elephant**

The remaining thirteen people in the company finally stopped running and took cover in a small boulder pile. After a strait twenty-eight miles of weaving and covering their tracks, the Terran had finally managed to lose the Hydralisk hunting parties that were scouring the wasteland for them. Jim stood stock still with his battle shield in one hand and Impaler rifle in the other, watching over the sparsely decorated wastelands with two more Marines flanking him on either side.

His heavy powered armor had reduced most of the wear on his muscles during the prolonged run down to minor pains in his legs and a bit of shortness of breath, but nothing he couldn't deal with after a moment's reprieve. The same with the other Marines and the single Reaper and Medic in their merry group. Asuka, however, was a different story completely.

The female Ghost was very fit but didn't have the added benefit of a powered suit to assist her in running that far that fast while also calling the plays for avoiding Zerg along the way. She was currently leaning against one of the boulders, her chest heaving up and down rapidly.

"Ma'am, you're about to go into cardiac arrest from the strain. I _need_ to do something," Ayanami told her as she got a reading back on her data pad.

"Okay," Asuka said and then managed in her halfway dead state to shout, "Jim get over here!"

"McCabe, take my spot," Jim said to the Reaper as he walked past him toward where Asuka and the Medic were crouched.

"Uh-huh," Nick replied and moved into Jim's now empty spot.

Asuka slumped to the ground grabbing her side. Jim crouched next to her and sat his Impaler to the side.

"What you need?" he asked.

"I'm going into cardiac arrest. Wait fifteen seconds after I'm gone and inject me with one of your stim packs," she ordered.

"Yeah, no problem," Jim said, pulling a stim pack out of his belt.

"Jim, look at me," she said.

"What?" he asked, looking directly into her dimming, yet still stunning, blue eye.

"I'm putting my life into your hands. Don't fuck it up," she said, smiling a bit nervously.

Jim nodded and held the stim pack ready near her arm. "I won't. Now hurry up and die so we can get this over with," he said, then added, "Ma'am."

Asuka closed her eyes and quietly died with a pained expression on her face.

"One Mississippi," Jim breathed.

"Zerg!" called one of the perimeter Marines, "They've got an Ultralisk!"

"Concentrate all fire on the Ultralisk! We can ignore the Zerglings for now!" Nick shouted over the firing Marines' rifles.

"Two Mississippi," Jim said, trying to keep his hand still with all the excitement blasting around him.

Spike rounds flew through the air and pinged against the Ultralisk's armored stomach. Nick had seen Ultralisks tear through groups of Marines ten times bigger than the one he was standing in without even a scratch. Nothing short of a siege tank was taking it down easily.

"Three Mississippi."

The Ultralisk swept three Marines aside with one of its mighty tusks, sending them through the air and into the dirt in two pieces each.

"Four Mississippi."

"Its through the ranks, loop around and keep it away from the Lieutenant!" Nick shouted and boosted strait through the big animal's legs.

"Five Mississippi."

A Zergling jumped on a Marine's chest and beat its way through his visor. The Marine dropped his rifle and started groping for the alien with both hands, but in doing so stumbled within the Ultralisk's slashing range.

"Six Mississippi."

The Ultralisk lifted one of its feet into the air and brought it down on both the Marine and the hapless Zergling gnawing at his face. The unlikely pair was instantly turned into a puddle of blood under the monster's foot.

"Seven Mississippi."

The rest of the Marines had started to move around the Ultralisk, taking its concentration off of the three people at the back of the boulder slide and onto them. Viewed from Jim's angle, this was a good thing. Viewed from the Marines' angle, it was a more or less bad thing.

"Eight Mississippi."

Ayanami fired her Impaler and knocked three Zerglings off their feet before they could jump onto Jim and disrupt his concentration on Asuka.

"Nine Mississippi."

"Cover me!" Nick shouted and used his jumpjets to boost up onto the Ultralisk's back.

He landed just as the Marines fired their Impaler rifles' grenade launchers into the Ultralisk's chest, causing the animal to buck under Nick's unstable footing.

"Ten Mississippi."

The Reaper holstered both of his pistols and stumbled forward toward the Ultralisk's head as Marines pounded away harmlessly against the creature's front.

"Eleven Mississippi."

Nick grabbed the top of the Ultralisk's head with one hand and pulled a D18 charge out of his belt with the other.

"Twelve Mississippi."

The Ultralisk jerked again and threw him over its head and into a position where the Terran warrior was literally eye-to-eye with the Zerg behemoth, hanging on with one arm.

"Thirteen Mississippi."

The Ultralisk heaved itself forward and Nick felt himself flying away from it. With no time left to arm it, he threw the D18 charge into the creature's open mouth.

"Fourteen Mississippi."

Nick hit the ground just as the Ultralisk swallowed the harmless charge. He tried to move, but found that his leg was broken.

"Fifteen Mississippi," Jim said and shoved the stim pack into Asuka's leg, injecting her with the chemical that should jump-start her heart.

He waited for her eyes to open.

The Ultralisk thundered forward, enraged at Nick specifically. It batted a Marine who was working the bolt on his jammed Impaler furiously and hacked the kid in half like tissue paper in its rage. It was at that moment, when the huge Zerg lifted its foot above his head, that Nick knew he was going to die.

There was a loud crack, followed by a bang and the Ultralisk's head blew off. Gallons upon gallons of blood sprayed into the air while the useless appendage flopped to the dirt with a wet smack. Nick looked back to see Asuka slumped against the rock holding her C10 canister rifle in one hand, the barrel smoking.

"Mop up the rest of them!" she ordered with remarkable strength considering she'd just been brought back from the dead.

The few Marines left opened fire on the Zerglings, wiping the wasteland with them in just a handful of minutes now that the Ultralisk was dead. Jim and Ayanami grabbed Nick by the arms and hauled him back to the boulder slide and sat him down next to Asuka before going back to assist the Marines in gathering ammo from their dead comrades.

"How'd you do that?" Nick asked her.

"Simple," she said in an offhand way, "I shot the D18 in its throat."

Nick didn't really want to know how she had known there was one in it, so he didn't ask. Ghosts scared him sometimes.

Jim thundered up to them in his power suit. "Now what?" he asked.


	5. Chapter 5

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 5: The Bunker**

It was dark out and the remaining eight Terran had moved two miles since the Zerg Ultralisk/Zergling rush that had killed the five of their group. They were all tired and wanted nothing more than to get some sleep. Finding the science bunker, looking into this Zerg killing weapon, and getting back to the temporary ground base was all that any of them wanted to do.

Right at the moment, Asuka was crouched at the base of a hill with Ayanami and two Marines named Private Slinky and Private Timmins. Jim, Nick, Private Doodle and Private Smith were at the top of the hill scouting what was on the other side.

"What's your assessment of the squad's health?" Asuka asked Ayanami.

The Medic blew a strand of hair out of one of her eyes before responding. "McCabe's fine, I fixed his leg before we set out again. All the Marines are unhurt. But you-" she was cut off by Asuka.

"Don't tell me, I've pulled some leg muscles and shouldn't be moving much."

Ayanami nodded, "Well actually, if it wasn't for Goss, you wouldn't be breathing right now."

"Yeah, I know," Asuka said, staring into space towards the top of the hill Jim had gone over.

On the other side of the hill, Jim was peering down at a lone Terran bunker that was sitting in the middle of a large dirt plain. Maybe three or four dead-looking trees dotted the landscape around it with not even very many waist high rocks to occupy one's mind.

"Asuka, I think we found the bunker," Jim said over his in-suit COM system.

"Roger that. We're coming up," she replied.

Jim waved Privates Doodle and Smith around the right side of the clearing with a hand signal. The two Marines hustled into position quickly, almost too quickly to make it the stealthy approach that Jim knew Asuka would want them to be executing.

Though he hadn't known her that long, Jim felt that he knew the redheaded Ghost that was currently topping the hill well enough to realize what she wanted without having to be told. Or maybe it was just some kind of one-way telepathy she had with him. He didn't really know for sure. Ghosts were always hard to deal with.

"You've got them on a wide flanking approach," Asuka commented, steadying herself on her C10 canister rifle like a crutch, "And a stealth one at that."

"What should we do now?" Jim asked, pretending that he hadn't heard the compliment.

"Move up," she said to everyone in attendance.

The eight Terran soldiers approached with Jim and Slinky in front. Both of them were equipped with ballistic battle shields that they held in front of them just in case something lurking within the bunker took a sudden dislike to them. Looking off to his right, Jim saw Doodle and Smith moving between the small bits of cover in the clearing on a stealthy approach to that side of the bunker.

Everything seemed to be going okay when a burst of Impaler fire flew out of the bunker and kicked up dirt near where Jim and Slinky had their booted feet planted. Both men instantly dropped to a crouch and overlapped the edges of their shields, creating a wall between the bunker and the people behind them.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire we're Terran!" Asuka shouted over the shields.

The firing stopped quickly, and a voice called out, "What kind of Terran?"

"Raynor's Raiders!" Asuka called back.

No response came for a minute. Then, "Okay, we're opening the door! Come on up but don't try anything stupid! We've got Firebats in here!"

"Oh, damn I'm scared," Nick muttered sarcastically while moving a D18 charge around in his throwing hand.

"Okay, here we come!" Asuka called back, then looked at Jim, "Move up."

Jim nodded and he and Slinky moved slowly to the bunker entrance door. It opened for them and they stepped inside in a way that wasn't directly associated with combat but was damn close. Jim automatically assessed the occupants of the room: two white armored Marines and a Firebat who all had superior angles on him thanks to the bunkers layout that had a raised walkway around the outside, providing the defenders with an angle on the low door.

Asuka stepped inside next with Ayanami next to her and Nick right behind both of them followed soon by Timmins, Doodle and Smith.

"I need to speak with the person in charge here on a matter of extreme urgency," Asuka told one of the Marines.

"There's no way that's gonna fly," Slinky muttered under his breath.

"Right this way," the Marine said, gesturing to a lift in the center of the lower part of the bunker.

"Well I'll be damned," said Slinky.

"She's a _Ghost_ buddy," Jim whispered, "Remember that before you guess what she can do to people's heads."

The eight companions stepped on the lift and the Marine hit the down button, whisking them off down the track to a lower level of what was most likely a large facility beneath the unassuming bunker above. After thirty seconds the lift came to a stop at the end of a hallway.

"Right this way," the Marine said, "Your men can rest in the break room down the hall."

"Thanks," Asuka said and motioned the rest of them down the hall.

Jim started to move with them when Asuka said, "Jim, come with us."

Jim nodded to Nick, telling him wordlessly to take the men down the hallway. The Reaper nodded back and ushered the rest of the troops toward the break room. Jim followed Asuka and the Marine into a small office off of the main corridor. Upon entering, Jim could smell the thick acrid smell of cigar smoke and saw who he automatically assumed was the man responsible.

"Sergeant Jax," he growled.

The Marine behind the desk looked up at Jim from the screen of his computer and frowned.

"Goss, you slimy bastard, I should've known you'd be one of those defecting bastards!" Jax shouted, "You never were any good now were you, private?"

"He's not a private," Asuka corrected, "He's a Sergeant, same as you."

"Then where the hell's his stripes?" Jax countered.

"Not on yet. He just got promoted in the field," Asuka shot back.

Jim wondered when the hell he'd been promoted and if he'd by chance not been paying close enough attention when Asuka turned to him.

"Right Jim?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm a Sergeant. So right now I suggest you shut the hell up, Jax, before I blow your little private here's head off," Jim said.

Before the white armored private could react, Jim had shoved his flak pistol in the Marine's face and closed the door with his leg. Asuka leveled her canister rifle in line with Jax's head and thumbed off the safety.

"It's at a time like this," Asuka said, "Where the reason the Confederacy fell so easily becomes blatantly apparent."

"What's the reason?" Jax managed to squeak.

"All of its officers and NCOs were idiots. Instead of asking who we were, you started jacking with Jim over his rank," Asuka said, cocking her rifle for emphasis, "We can do this one of two ways: one, you cooperate and give us the weapon you've been hiding here and we fight the Zerg together, or two, I kill you and take the weapon by force. What's it gonna be?"

Jax took hardly a second to decide. "The first one, we'll do the first one," he said.

"Good," Asuka said and lowered her weapon. Then without looking back, she said, "Plug him Jim."

Jim fired his flak pistol and splattered the young private's brains all over the office wall. The heavily armored dead weight that made up the private's body clanged to the ground with a noise that resounded around the small room.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" Jax shouted.

Jim turned his pistol in line with the Sergeant. "He accidentally discharged his weapon, causing the bullet to ricochet around the room and hit him in the forehead, thus he inadvertently killed himself. Got it?" Jim clarified.

"Yeah I got it," Jax replied.

"Good, then you'll be sure not to accidentally discharge your weapon, won't you?" Asuka intoned.

"Yes ma'am," Jax said.

"Glad we've got that taken care of," the redhead smiled in mock delight, "Now let's go see that weapon you've got here."


	6. Chapter 6

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 6: Projects**

"Sir I'm sorry," said one of the two dim-witted Marines that guarded entrance to the room Jax was taking Jim, Asuka, Nick and the rest of the companions into, "But before the Colonel died he gave us both explicit orders not to allow you into this room under any authority besides Dr. Tanner."

Jim started to reach for his sidearm, when the Marine quickly changed his mind without warning.

"Come on in sir," he said and opened the door.

"Thanks private," Jax replied and led them through the door.

Jim nudged Asuka in the side. "You change his mind?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she asked, a devilish grin on her face.

Before Jim could respond, they had entered a large room with a container at the center and an older man in a white lab coat was walking up a ramp toward them with a less-than-happy expression on his face.

"Sergeant Jax, I thought that I gave you very clear directions not to interrupt me in this very delicate part of my-" the man started but stopped as Jim pressed his flak pistol into his forehead.

"Dr. Tanner I presume?" Asuka said as she limped past him on her rifle toward the big container.

"Y-y-yes m-m-ma'am," the scientist stuttered in response.

"Jim, put the gun down before he pisses himself," Asuka said.

Jim dropped the pistol down to his side, but both he and Tanner knew that with the armor he was wearing ripping the Dr. in half wouldn't be a hard thing to do. The rest of the squad fanned out around the room, taking up firing positions on the container, Tanner, Jax and the entrance door. Jim noted that Nick already had a D18 charge in his hand in case things went south.

The container itself was in a depression in the room that was lined with a railing to keep people from falling the five feet down into the pit from the walkway. It was on this walkway that the squad of Raiders was now stationed.

"Hey look, coffee," Asuka said as she spied a pot of the liquid on a cluttered worktable.

"Yes," Tanner said, "Would you like some?"

The quick movement Tanner made towards Asuka got immediate reactions from the men around them, who reacted by swinging their rifles up into firing position with the business ends pointed directly at the scientist.

"Don't make any sudden movements Doc," Asuka warned, "I'd hate to get blood in my coffee."

Tanner, though he'd lost control of his bladder, was still able to make a slightly humorous response. "So that means that you do want some, correct?" he asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, we can drink and discuss this weapon you're working on," Asuka said, putting her rifle off to the side and sitting down on a stool.

As Tanner poured some coffee into two foam cups, a private burst through the door.

"Sergeant Jax! Zerg up top! They're rushing the bunker!" he screamed hysterically.

"Well go hold them off!" Jax said before turning to Jim, "Can you help us?"

Jim didn't wait for Asuka's input or even turn to get it for that matter, he just made a snap tactical decision. "Yes. Slinky, McCabe, Doodle, Smith, Ayanami and Timmins: up top on the double!" he barked and started running with Jax out the door.

As they thundered up the ramp to the main floor of the facility, Jim turned to Jax. "How many men do you have here?"

"After the one you shot earlier," Jax counted in his head, "Five."

"Including you?"

"Yes."

"Shit," Jim muttered as they reached the elevator.

The door closed and Jim turned to the team for a small briefing before they reached the top.

"Nick, Slinky, cover the south side. Timmins, Doodle, hold the north side. Ayanami, Smith, east side, I'll take the west," Jim said.

"What about me?" Jax asked.

"You stay no more than a gunshot away from me," Jim said just as the blast door above the elevator lift opened.

Instantly, the battle shrieks of countless Zerglings pounded the soldiers' eardrums. The squad fanned out and jumped up onto the defense deck. Jim saw that they'd already lost the only Firebat in the bunker judging by the large blood splash mixed with smoke and fire in one corner. That meant there were only four of Jax's men left.

He stepped up to the edge of the bunker's western fire port and stuck the barrel of his Impaler through it. Outside, the exterior lights had been turned on and illuminated a wave of roughly one thousand Zerglings rushing them from across the wastelands. From the looks of all the blood already soaking into the dirt, Jim guessed that this was the main wave following an advance force that'd probably been responsible for the Firebat's death.

"Please God say you've got spider mines," Jim told Jax.

"Say no more, Goss," the sergeant said.

Jax reached over and pulled open what looked like a fuse box mounted on the bunker wall. He flipped a series of switches, resulting in a beeping noise. Outside, Jim saw a hundred spider mines crawl up out of the ground and skitter towards the Zergling wave. Due to the mines wireless link with each other, they were sure not to let two of them hit the same Zergling.

The mines reached their destinations and exploded, sending body parts into the air and blood all over the ground. The shrieking of the remaining Zerglings went up in pitch as they wobbled about, disoriented from the blasts. Jim shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears. His lungs were still jittery from the vibration that all of the charges had set off.

Nevertheless, he was still able to holler the order, "Frag 'em!"

Out of every port in the bunker came Impaler shots, mowing the rest of the Zerglings down in no time at all. The dog-sized aliens on the south side were blown to pieces by a D18 charge hurled into their huddle while the rest simply were cut into pieces by bullets. When it was all over, Jim turned to Jax.

"Thanks," he said.

"Thank you," Jax replied.

"Uh-huh, let's get back down to Tanner and his 'weapon'," Jim suggested.

"Good idea," Jax agreed.

"McCabe, come on," Jim said and hopped back on the lift.

"Yeah," Nick said as he holstered his pistols and hopped down off of the walkway.


	7. Chapter 7

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 7: Over 9,000**

After the explosions of the spider mines up top had died away, Asuka slowly put her rifle back down and sat back in her chair. She tried to relax and take a drink out of the foam coffee cup Tanner had handed her but found that she kept thinking about everyone up in the bunker and if they were okay. Finally, she settled on giving them a radio call.

"Jim," she said into her headset, "You guys okay up there?"

No response.

Worried, Asuka sat forward in her chair again. "Jim, are you there?"

"_Yeah, we're on the lift headed your way. Sorry I couldn't respond earlier, McCabe was talking to me_," Jim replied, then Asuka heard him say to Nick, "_Shut up man, I'm on the radio. No, I don't. Well what the hell kind of question is that?_"

"Okay Jim, Asuka out," she said and switched off the headset.

Tanner meanwhile had poured himself some coffee and was now sitting across the worktable from her, looking kind of nervous.

"Relax Doc," Asuka said, "I'm not going to kill you."

"How do I know that?" he shot back.

"Well, if I kill you, then who's going to tell me what's in the big container? And better yet, what it does and how it does it?" she asked as a way of explaining her reasons.

The ex-confederate scientist seemed to relax a bit. "So you want me to tell you what it is?" he asked.

"If you don't mind," said Asuka.

"This may be a little hard to understand, so I apologize if I get ahead of myself," Tanner warned.

Asuka smiled a bit. "Trust me, I won't mind."

"Its called the 'Relay Disrupter' and what it basically does is interrupt the Zerg command network. As you well know, every command in the Zerg collective hive mind comes down through a channel that begins with the Overmind, goes down through Overlords and into the individual units such as Zerglings, Hydralisks and Larva."

"So what's this thing do?" Asuka pressed.

Now Tanner started to get excited and stood up, gesturing broadly with his hands. "Well you take it, see, and implant it into the Overmind and it starts sending out signals to the rest of the collective that makes them evolve in a bad way."

"What do you mean 'a bad way'?" Asuka asked.

"They'll evolve into evolutionary dead-ends to the point where they can't function. It won't be a short and painless death for the collective, but rather a long and suffering death that brings it to its knees, wallowing quite literally in its own piss and blood before finally the darkness encloses on it," Tanner exclaimed rather poetically.

"That's a good plan and everything Doc, but there's just one problem."

"What's that?" Tanner asked, wondering how this could possibly be flawed.

"Have you _seen_ the new Overmind?"

Tanner was about to ask what she meant by new Overmind when a sharp crack echoed around the chamber and his head exploded, spraying chunks of skull and brain all over the desk in front of him as he fell down onto his back, dead.

"Shit!" Asuka said as she grabbed her rifle and threw herself onto the floor behind the worktable.

She pumped the slide back and forth, chambering a 25mm round and readying herself for combat. Then nothing happened. The sound of computer terminals around the lab quietly beeping, the feeling of a slight breeze from the air conditioning, the smell of fresh blood on the tile floor, but no gunshots. She hit a button on her wrist computer and vanished into a cloaking field.

Standing up, she moved quickly across the lab while looking for any shooter. The urge to gain elevation into the rafters came natural to her, so in response to instinct she grabbed the nearest ladder rung and started pulling herself up. She placed her hand on the top rung and instantly felt a boot pressing down on her fingers.

Looking up, she saw a man wearing the same type of Ghost armor that she was. He had a canister rifle pointed at her head and wore the old style goggles that Asuka had abandoned after the Brood War in favor of nano-ocular implants. The Ghost smiled, revealing yellow pointed teeth.

"Hey Soryu," he smarted, "How's it going?"

Asuka recognized the voice immediately. "Well Traz, now that you ask, not so good."

With that, she yanked her hand out from under his boot and fell back down the ladder faster than he could pull the trigger. Landing flat on her back, she ignored the pain and fired three shots back up the ladder into the rafters. Traz ducked out of the way, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off of support beams and around the upper part of the chamber.

He ran laterally across the rafters, jumping between them with huge leaps. Asuka followed him with shots from her C10. They all missed, as he was moving just too fast for her aim to keep up. Traz stopped and pivoted around on his knee to aim at Asuka with his own C10. He fired and she rolled to the right, the round bouncing off the ground where her head had been a split second before.

Traz pulled the trigger again and realized the gun was jammed. Not having time to fix the problem, he leapt down off of the rafters and landed above Asuka. He drew his strait-blade psi knife and the blade automatically materialized. Asuka pressed her knee to her chest and with a mighty kick to Traz's chest drove him backward into a bank of computers.

The shattered monitors sparked as Traz's body weight smashed against them. Asuka stood as he did and drew her own psi knife.

"Why'd you shoot Tanner?" she asked.

"Why not?" he countered, obviously not in the mood for bad-guy good-guy knife fight chat.

The two highly trained psionics launched at each other and locked blades, eye-to-goggle. After a second of straining against the other's strength, Asuka wrapped her right leg around Traz's and pulled it out from under him, causing him to lose balance and fall back on the floor. Not wasting any time, Asuka drove down at him with her knife.

He ducked out of the way and her blade wedged itself in the tiled floor. Traz jumped up and stabbed at her. Just in time Asuka was able to pull her psi knife out of the ground and block his thrust with her own blade. Sparks flew due to the combined energies of the two knives. He was above her and had the weight advantage, which he was using to decrease the distance between his knife and her right eye.

The door to the lab suddenly opened and Asuka saw Jim, Nick and Jax enter. Traz turned his head to look at this new development and Asuka seized the moment's reprieve in his advance to punch him in the side of the head with her free left hand. Now with no pressure on her knife, Asuka went on the offensive, stabbing his wrist computer.

Traz decloaked and Jim instantly saw him, classified him as a hostile, and loosed a barrage of Impaler fire in his direction.

The Ghost jumped out of the way with cat-like reflexes and started climbing the ladder up into the rafters. As he reached the top, one of Jim's bullets hit him in the shoulder blade. Limping, he ran across the remainder of the rafters toward a hole in the wall. Jim's rifle clacked empty and as he started reloading he looked over to Nick, who up until this point had done absolutely nothing to contribute to the firefight.

"Well throw one of your fuck balls!" Jim shouted.

Nick snapped back into reality and hurled a D18 charge at Traz, which latched onto the hole just after the Ghost ducked through it. It went off and closed the hole, covering the standing people with dust and smoke.


	8. Chapter 8

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 8: Sunrise on a War Torn World**

"Ain't no way we can dig through this with what we got sir!" Slinky called down from where he stood with Smith next to the caved-in tunnel entrance Traz had made his escape through.

"I read you, private," Jim replied, "Report back up to the bunker with Ayanami, Doodle and Timmins."

"Yes sir," the two Marines replied and started moving to the elevator.

Asuka was leaning against a console next to the container, which had been opened up and lit to reveal the Relay Disrupter. It was an object about the size of a beer cooler but with a domed top. Inside, it contained a large container of liquid filled with nano-agents made to alter the evolution of the Swarm to a destructive end.

"So, what do you think?" Jim asked.

"I think," Asuka said, "That I'm going to grab some sleep, and deal with this in the morning. You're in charge."

"Um, okay," Jim managed as she limped away.

The door closed and Jax turned to Jim. "That's a strong woman there Goss, she even admits when she needs her beauty sleep."

"Shut up Jax, and get all three of your remaining Marines down here. You'll be guarding this room with them in case that Ghost decides to show up again," Jim told him.

"What're we doing?" Nick asked as they walked out of the room and up the ramp to the elevator.

"We're rotating on watch up top," Jim said.

"All of us?"

"Nope, just you and me."

"Fun."

On the surface, two miles away, Traz was wandering through the dirt and scrub holding his shattered remains of a shoulder. He was grunting and losing blood fast. Eventually, he ran out of energy and collapsed against a rock. He yanked off his goggles and looked up at the night sky. Sitting there, nearing the end of his life, Traz wondered just why he'd gone and killed Tanner like that.

"Don't think like that," a voice said from beside him.

Traz slowly looked over and, amidst a Praetorian Guard of Hydralisks, he saw his reason.

"Did you kill him?" asked Kerrigan.

"Yes," Traz replied.

"Excellent. Stand my child," she commanded.

Despite the massively painful shoulder wound, Traz stood up immediately and took a step toward her. Instantly, a Hydralisk stepped between them and bared its teeth while at the same time opening its chest, revealing a vast array of ready-to-launch acid spikes. Traz froze mid-step.

Kerrigan waved the Hydralisk aside and stepped up to Traz. "Now," she whispered in his ear, "You will fulfill your purpose."

She placed her hand on his wounded shoulder. The torn flesh glowed blue and sealed back together, the bleeding stopped. Traz felt something spreading from the shoulder throughout his body, across his chest, down his legs, up his back and into every nerve ending. He sighed with joy and Kerrigan withdrew her hand.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

He opened his eyes, now cat-like and yellow.

"I feel," he said in an echoing voice, "Alive."

The next morning, Jim stood at one of the bunker's gun slits in his armor, his gauss Impaler rifle setting up against the low wall. Nick was slumped in his Reaper armor at the other corner of the bunker, asleep. The system's sun was rising over the horizon, casting a faint orange glow to reflect off of Jim's blue armor.

"How's the sunrise?" a voice asked from behind him.

Jim turned to see Asuka, her rifle slung across her back, leaning against the railing. She wasn't limping and in the lighting looked quite beautiful.

"Yeah, come on over and look at it if you want," Jim suggested of his superior.

"Okay," she said and walked over to stand to the right of him.

The two just stood there for a moment, breathing in the sunrise until Asuka broke the silence.

"You know that guy last night?" she asked.

"The one I shot?" Jim queried.

"Yeah."

"Yep, I know the one."

"Well, I know him."

"So does my bullet."

"You know what I mean, Jim. I know him personally, like we went through training together personally. His name's Traz, I always pegged him as a good guy…" her voice trailed off like she didn't want to talk about it.

"Asuka, you can tell me," Jim offered sincerely.

"What makes you so nice?" she snapped.

"What? I just mean that you can tell me is all," he attempted to answer.

She moved toward him with intent to harm but stopped herself.

"Jim, I'm sorry," she struggled to explain something, "My head's just in a jumble right now, okay? I'll talk to you when I can."

Jim looked at her for a second in hard thought, then said, "It's okay Asuka. Let's just watch the sun for now. We can deal with everything else later."

She looked up and smiled at him.

"Okay Jim, thanks for listening."

Jim shrugged, and in his big bulky armor it somehow came across as heartwarming to Asuka. They both stood for a long while watching the horizon, while Nick snored nearby in his armor.


	9. Chapter 9

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 9: Ready to Roll Out**

"Look Jax, here's the deal," Jim started.

"Why are you the one always talkin' to me and not that sexy lieutenant of yours?" Jax asked.

"Shut the fuck up and listen," Jim snapped.

"Okay, fine," Jax muttered.

"We're moving out with the Disrupter to link up with the rest of the invasion force sixty miles south of here. You and your men can come along or stay. Its up to you," Jim explained less-than-enthusiastically.

"We'll come," Jax said immediately.

"That was awfully fast. You sure you don't want to think about it?" Jim asked.

"Its either go with you, or get overrun by the Zerg eventually," Jax answered logically, "And I aim to live through this war."

Jim nodded in understanding. "Then get your shit together, we're meeting at the exit in five."

"Hey," Ayanami said to Doodle, "How'd you get your nickname?"

The Marine private tore his gaze out of space and into focus on the medic in front of him.

"I draw things," he answered quietly.

"Really? Can I see some?" she asked.

Doodle hesitated a bit.

"Come on, Doodle. I'm not gonna make fun of them," she assured him.

"I guess so," he decided and fished a spiral notebook out of one of his ammo pouches on his armor.

He handed it over and Rei started flipping through it, a hard task in the big power suit's gloves. First there was a sketch of a frontier colonist house on some wasteland landscape. Then there was a drawing of a Vulture attack bike held in service clamps in a garage. A picture of some kind of bird sitting on a branch chewing idly on a bit of worm was next, followed by some variants of butterfly pictures.

"Huh," she muttered.

"You don't like them," Doodle stated, completely sure of his assessment of her sigh.

"No," she said quickly, "Not at all. They look great."

Doodle looked up at her shyly, a thing somewhat hard to do in his bulky armor. "Really?" he asked.

"Yes Doodle, really," she replied.

The two were about to continue their conversation when Asuka and Jim entered the room, Smith and Timmins behind him carrying the Relay Disrupter in a box between them.

"Get jacked up, we're movin' out!" Jim ordered.

Thirty minutes later they were walking across the wasteland in a spread cluster formation with Smith and Timmins at the center carrying the Disrupter. Asuka walked directly in front of them with her canister rifle, personally making damn sure nothing happened to it. Jim and Nick were walking point and idly talking about things with no real meaning when they heard Asuka say something.

"Jax!" she called, "Get over here a minute!"

The white armored Terran sergeant told one of his two Marines to cover for him and jogged up the formation to where Asuka was walking. He slowed down into a walk that put him in position right next to her.

"Yeah ma'am?" he asked.

"Look, I need the names of your two men. I'm not gonna go through a full combat transportation without being able to communicate clearly with my ten man team."

Jax nodded and pointed back to the Marine who'd taken his place. "That's Private Stuch," he said and shifted his pointing to the other Marine, "And he's Private Lambert."

"Stuch and Lambert. Okay, thanks Jax," Asuka said.

That translated into 'fuck off' for Jax and he hastily moved back into position. At the front of the formation, Nick leaned over to Jim.

"I think he's putting the moves on Asuka."

"McCabe, get out of my face," Jim snapped.

"Why? Can't face the truth?" Nick pressed.

"No, your breath fucking stinks like dead Mutalisk."

Nick's smart-ass smile vanished and he slid his mask back down into place. The squad pressed on for another thirty minutes in silence before something happened.

It was Slinky who first noticed something was wrong. He had been walking along quietly thinking about just hat had happened to the animal who had been made up of the pile of bones they were walking past when his booted foot sank down into the ground abruptly.

"Shit!" he shouted in surprise.

"What?" Jim asked as he stopped and turned around.

"A hole in the ground sir," Slinky replied, struggling to pull his foot out.

"Well pull your foot out of it," Jim said calmly.

"Okay," Slinky said and freed his boot with enough force to throw him back on his ass.

He had just started to get back up when a Hydralisk jumped out of the ground and landed on his chest. Slinky screamed as the Hydralisk stabbed one of its scythe arms through his chest armor and into his right lung. The dying Terran private aimed his Impaler at the Hydralisk's head and squeezed the trigger. The rounds had enough force to blow through the creature's armor and spill red blood over both of the combatants.

"Shoot it!" Jim shouted to the rest of the squad.

A hail of Impaler shots smashed into the Hydralisk and spewed gallons of blood onto the dirt around it. Unfortunately, with its dying breath the Zerg was able to stab Slinky in the forehead.

"Cease fire!" Jim barked.

The gunshots ceased and the team started reloading their weapons. Jim dropped his half-filled magazine and put it back in his ammo belt. He put a one of two full magazines into the empty spot on his rifle and cycled the bolt.

"Ayanami, check Slinky," Jim ordered.

The medic ran over to Slinky and pushed the shattered remains of the Hydralisk off of him. She reached into his helmet and felt his pulse. With a grim look, she turned around to face Jim.

"He's dead, Jim," she said deadpan.

Jim was about to respond to her when Jax interrupted.

"Zerg!" he shouted.

Jim looked around and saw that the Confederate sergeant was correct. Hydralisks and Zerglings were crawling up out of the ground in a shrieking horde. The rest of the squad didn't wait for Jim, Jax or Asuka to give the order to fire. Instead they opened up on the Zerg no questions asked.

"Don't bunch up your fire!" Asuka shouted, "You'll just be burning through ammo!"

And the Marines didn't, instead favoring picking individual targets and firing until they were down before switching to another.

A Zergling jumped at Jim and he batted it out of the way with his battle shield hard enough to break the little alien's neck. It squirmed around in the dirt until Jim stomped its head into a puddle resembling dark red mud.

He turned around to see Timmins up in the air, a Hydralisk behind him with one of its arms sticking in his back and out of his chest. Timmins had dropped his rifle and had grabbed the scythe with both hands. The Hydralisk seemed to grin as it stabbed its second arm through right next to the first, resulting in a scream from the helpless Marine.

His scream was cut short, however, as the Hydralisk ripped him in half with a backward scissor movement. Timmins landed in two bloody pieces, his intestines pouring out of his upper body stringily on the dirt covered ground.

Jim was about to open fire on the now exposed Hydralisk when a series of three 25mm exit wounds appeared on its forehead. Blood squirted out as the creature nosed over face first onto the ground, revealing Asuka standing behind it, a smoking C10 canister rifle in her hands. Jim involuntarily began to gawk at her.

"Snap out of it!" she shouted before killing a Zergling as it crawled out of the ground.

Jim shook himself out of the haze he'd found himself in and looked around to assess the situation. Private Lambert had taken up position next to the Disrupter in Timmins' absence, Ayanami was tending to Stuch, who had a Hydralisk spike through his shoulder, Jax was covering Asuka along with Doodle, and Nick was standing next to Jim, firing his duel pistols faster than he could blink.

Then he saw their opposition. There must have been over a thousand of them, all coming up out of the ground and rushing them. Checking his ammo supply, Jim realized that they were hopelessly screwed.

Up on a hill overlooking the battlefield, stood Traz. He was by now fully infested with a Zerg strain Kerrigan had adapted to allow him on-site control over a brood of his own, like a Cerebrate. At the present, she hadn't deemed him good enough for that honor. He would have to prove himself to her. The way he planned to do that was to kill every Terran down there and take the Disrupter.

All except Asuka. He had something special in mind for her.

With that thought in mind, Traz grinned as he psionically called in the second phase of his plan.

"Mutalisks!" Doodle cried out, firing wildly at the air targets.

A hail of glave worms launched at the small Terran combat team. The first of which hit Doodle in the stomach and blew him into pieces of bloody debris and smoking armor.

"Doodle!" Ayanami shouted.

"Rei! Move!" Asuka barked, seeing a Hydralisk bearing down on the Medic.

Too late.

The creature shot Ayanami in the back with a tight cluster of three acid-covered spikes. Ayanami fell into Asuka's arms, knocked out from the shock. With one hand, Asuka unleashed a volley of canister shots up into the Hydralisk's neck that shattered vertebrae and killed the massive Zerg.

Slowly, she lowered Ayanami to the ground behind the Disrupter.

A glave worm tore through the air strait for Asuka. Just before impact, however, Jim thrust his battle shield in front of it. The worm angled off of the shield and strait up into a Mutalisk, ripping through it before turning in mid-air and hitting another one. The two Mutalisks fell to the ground with blood contrails flowing behind them.

By now, Jim, Nick, Asuka, Jax and Lambert had pulled back to the Disrupter and formed a defensive wall around it. Ayanami was unconscious and Timmins, Slinky, Doodle, Smith, and Stuch were dead.

Suddenly, fifteen acid spikes hit Lambert in the chest and drove him back up onto the Disrupter's rectangular container.

Jim sprayed the Hydralisk that had killed Lambert with the remainder of his clip. When the magazine was empty, Jim was completely out of ammo. The Hydralisk, however, kept moving until Asuka put it down with six shots from her rifle.

"I'm out," Jim reported.

Nick fired off a few more shots from his pistols, then said, "Me too."

"Same here," Jax sighed, pulling out his flak pistol.

"I've got one more magazine," Asuka said, "Then I'll be joining you guys."

As the Zerg closed in, Jim drew his sidearm and got ready to die fighting. He felt a tap on his armored shoulder and looked over to see Asuka.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I, uh, liked you," she said.

"I liked you too, Asuka," Jim said.

"I feel bad that it's going to end like this," she said.

"Me too," he said.

Then an acid spike hit him in the gut and drove him down onto the ground. Asuka fired off the remainder of her ammo and dived down onto the ground next to Jim.

"Jim!" she cried out, grabbing the edge of his helmet and yanking it around so that he was looking at her.

Jim's vision was narrowing and he couldn't hear much. Asuka seemed to be at the end of a long tunnel. Her lips were moving, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring look in the process. She stopped yelling and gave him a thin smile.

A series of quick moving shadows crisscrossed the battlefield and Jim saw blue laser blasts hitting the ground around them. Asuka looked up and said something, then he blacked out.


	10. Chapter 10

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 10: Debriefing**

Asuka took a deep breath before starting her oral report.

"On the first day out we were ambushed by Zerg forces in a small canyon. We lost exactly eighty-seven men there. After that we sprinted twenty-eight miles nonstop until I went into cardiac arrest from exhaustion. At that time, the Zerg attacked again with a combined force of Zerglings and one Ultralisk. Goss injected me with a stim pack fifteen seconds after I had died to jump-start my heart again. We killed the Ultralisk but after that encounter were down to eight men.

"That night we found the bunker and proceeded inside. That was where we met Sergeant Jax and his small garrison of men. This is also where I promoted Private Jim Goss to a Sergeant and ranking second in command of the squad. Jax showed us down to the laboratory where I made contact with Dr. Tanner, the man in charge of the Zerg Relay Disrupter project.

"The Zerg chose that moment to attack and the entire squad including Jax and Goss went up top to halt them. It's my understanding that they did it with a massive spider mine counterattack. I stayed underground with Tanner and discussed the Relay Disrupter, which I learned is injected into the Zerg Overmind, or in this case Kerrigan, and makes the Zerg evolve themselves to the point where they can no longer function well enough to survive.

"Soon after we talked, Tanner was assassinated by a Ghost I know from training named Traz. We fought in hand-to-hand until Goss, Jax and McCabe returned from the bunker. I was able to de-cloak him and Goss managed to put a round in his shoulder before he disappeared through quite literally a hole in the wall.

"After that, we went on a rotational night watch. Yesterday morning we rolled out of the bunker with the Disrupter heading toward our destination. We were ambushed by the Zerg and were about to be overrun when the Protoss showed up with that Interceptor wave and greased the Zerg all over the wasteland."

Jim Raynor shook his head slightly. "Soryu, that's a hell of a story and forgive me if I seem to not take it in fully. Its just that I've heard a dozen just like it from lieutenants all across the planet who're trying to make it out of this God-awful mess unscathed. How's the status of your squad right now?"

"Our Reaper is the only one who is currently not in the medical bay here on the Hyperion. Goss and the Medic, Ayanami, both sustained near fatal wounds and were admitted to the medical bay just after the Protoss shuttle dropped us off here yesterday," Asuka replied.

"What about this Confederate, Jax or whatever?" Raynor pushed.

"Both Jax and McCabe have been sleeping on the fold out couch and in the guest bedroom of my quarters since they got back. They're both very tired," Asuka said.

Raynor sighed. "Okay, look, we've got two, maybe three problems right now that need to be dealt with. One: The Zerg infestation of this planet. We need to accomplish our main goal of cleaning the planet to make it a stronghold for our growing resistance movement. That means destroying the primary Hive Cluster here.

"Two: Dominion interference. Chances are that our old friend Mensk isn't going to take kindly to our efforts here. We may be dealing with a battle in that department soon.

"And three: Staying alive. It seems to be a more pressing need lately than it has been before," Raynor explained.

"And where do I fit in?" Asuka asked.

"You fit in with two of them. Accomplishing the goal of destroying the Zerg on this planet with the Disrupter also helps the staying alive goal since we'd have one less thing to worry about," Raynor said.

"You want me to implant the Disrupter into Kerrigan," Asuka said in astonishment.

"Yes."

"The Queen of Blades."

"Yes."

"The Queen Bitch of the Universe."

"Yes."

"The woman who's Confederate Service Kill Count is over one thousand."

"That's the idea."

Asuka slumped back. "Wow, Raynor, thanks for nothing."

"Just get it done, please. Besides, you'll have access to the full supplies of both the Hyperion and Massadar's two carriers," Raynor said.

"Who the hell is Massadar?" Asuka asked.

"He's the Protoss Executor in charge of the two carriers in atmosphere with us. I've known him a long time. He doesn't like the current Protoss government any more than we like the current Terran one," answered Raynor.

"So we're both in the same boat," Asuka summarized.

"That's the idea. Take all the time you need to get this plan together, but sooner would be better than later," Raynor said.

"Uh-huh," Asuka said and stood to leave.

She walked down the hallway outside of Raynor's office to the elevator. Once on, she pressed the button for the medical deck.


	11. Chapter 11

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 11: Jumping Jacks**

"Okay Sergeant, try and sit up," instructed the medical bay doctor.

Jim groaned as he sat up on the bed jutting out of the wall. He felt his bare stomach and identified that they had in fact removed the acid spike and sewed him back together.

"What's the damage, Doc?" he asked.

"Your intestines sustained extreme acid burns. We were able to stop and repair the damage, but it might be a bit uncomfortable to eat solid food for the next couple of weeks," the doctor answered.

"Define uncomfortable," Jim said.

"It would counteract the solution we used to repair the damage, causing your intestines to turn inside out and be evacuated partially out of your rectum. The other half would turn into a metabiological parasite and eat your brain," the doctor deadpanned.

"You're joking, right?" Jim asked.

The doctor mearly shook his head, looking at Jim over his glasses. Jim sighed.

The Korpulu Sector was a very, very violent place.

At that moment, the entrance to the medical bay opened and Asuka stepped into the room, her rifle slung over her shoulder. She was still wearing her black Ghost stealth suit, which meant her body was still deliciously defined to Jim's view.

"Sergeant," she said with a stern look on her face.

Instantly, Jim realized she wasn't in the mood for chatting and he snapped into talking-to-a-superior mode.

"Ma'am," he said, trying his best to stand and salute.

Her stern look vanished completely and she gave him a warm smile.

"I was just screwing around, don't salute me," she ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Jim snapped, returning his hand to his side.

"And stop calling me ma'am! I thought we were past this," she barked.

"Sure thing," he said, careful to change his response to meet her demands.

Asuka took a deep breath, then continued.

"I've been charged with getting the Relay Disrupter into Kerrigan. Can you help?" she asked.

"I'm all over it. Where do we start?" Jim asked.

Asuka was frankly amazed at how readily he jumped strait into the problem without giving it a second thought.

"You might want to reconsider. I knew her personally, and she's quite a bitch."

"No. I'm going with you," Jim stated firmly.

Asuka could see that he was dead serious in the way he looked strait into her eyes. But, there was something else there as well. After a moment she realized what it was: protectiveness. And that, was the last thing she needed out of him.

She walked up to him and said quietly, "Jim, I'm a big girl. I don't need you watching after me. I can and always have taken care of myself. If that's your sole reason for coming along then don't. You read me?"

"Asuka, I just want to be with you," he whispered in her ear, "Please, please don't take that away from me."

"Don't make this difficult Jim," she cautioned, feeling a lump growing in her throat.

"It isn't difficult for me, I know exactly what needs to happen," Jim countered.

"I…" Asuka stopped, not knowing what to say.

Instead, she kissed him.

"She did what!?" Jax exclaimed to Jim later in C deck's lunchroom.

"Yep, just up and kissed me right there," Jim confirmed.

"So, are you still going on the Kerrigan thing?" Nick asked.

"That's the idea," Jim replied.

"Hey! I think-" Jax started.

"Jax, I don't care," Nick said, cutting him off.

Jim took it that spending the night in the same quarters as Jax had given him plenty of reason not to care about what the Confederate redneck thought about anything.

"What's Asuka doing right now?" Nick asked, turning his attention away from their retarded friend to Jim.

"I think she's interviewing Thor pilots for our mission. Raynor says he can only allow us one Thor for the mission. Which is bullshit considering what we're up against," Jim answered, throwing his opinion on the table no matter if they cared or not.

"Well let's hope she gets a good one," Nick muttered.

"So I looked at your service record," Asuka said, "Most impressive. Dominion service cross, campaign ribbons for action on Char, Mar Sara and Korhal IV, all during the Brood War. Twelve confirmed kills against Protoss Colossi, six of those in close combat. Unconfirmed kill-count of Zerg units though an estimated twenty-four Ultralisk kills. Still operating in the same Thor throughout all of that. You've had a hell of a round, but I need you for something special."

"What, exactly?" asked the beefy pilot in his manly voice.

"We're killing Kerrigan," Asuka said bluntly.

"Count me out!" the pilot exclaimed and left her quarters quickly, not wanting any part in that insane scheme.

"Damnit!" Asuka shouted at no one in particular, "Okay, next?"

The door slowly opened and a slim, brown haired boy stepped in and sat down in the chair opposite Asuka.

"Here's my service record," he said quietly and handed a file over to Asuka.

She tabbed through it and read aloud:

"Five years of combat experience, mostly base defense work. Two Colossi kills from range. Four Ultralisk kills. Numerous Zergling, Hydralisk, Lurker and, how the hell? Sixteen Mutalisk kills?" she stopped and looked at him, "I'm tempted to give you the job just because of that."

"What are you trying to do, anyway?" he asked.

"Kill Kerrigan, you in?" she said, thinking he'd turn it down just like all the others before him.

He thought for a second, then, "I think I'm in."

"Fantastic! Okay then, Warrant Officer-" she checked the folder, "-Ikari? Did I pronounce that right?"

"Yes," he said.

"Great! I'll call you when we've assembled the rest of the team."


	12. Chapter 12

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 12: The Infested Situation**

Traz waited anxiously outside the inner sanctum of the primary Tarsonis Hive. That was where Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, resided. As an infested Ghost just like her, he thought that news of his failure to kill Asuka and her squad could go to one of two extremes.

One: due to their similarities she might gain a certain understanding of his failure and let him off without any punishment.

Two: she might go into a rant about how she expects better out of someone with the same background as her and hack his head free of his body.

All things considered, Traz preferred the first option. Suddenly, the living door in front of him slid open like an orifice.

"Come in, Traz," her haunting voice called out to him.

He stepped through the opening and it slid shut behind him with a slick, organic squishing noise. He found the Zerg queen standing alone in the middle of the rather large room, her back to him. A more foolish person may have assumed that from that position she was defenseless and thus vulnerable to damage.

However, Traz was certain that if she wished she could psionically command the very walls around them to crush him into pulped flesh and shattered bone. Now that he thought about it, Traz realized that she could probably do that with _just_ her mind, taking the walls out of the equation completely.

"You failed to accomplish the task that I gave you," Kerrigan stated, still not looking at him.

"Yes I did," Traz replied.

He felt that it was better not to stammer and bumble at the moment, considering she was the one who'd called him in to begin with.

"Did you not anticipate the Protoss interference?" she asked.

"No I did not," he answered.

"Understandable," she said, "You're not yet powerful enough to sense major changes on the field of battle."

Traz couldn't think of a way to respond to that, so he didn't say anything.

"Traz, do you know why I don't control you directly like I do the others?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him from behind the spines sticking out of her back.

"No I do not," he said curtly.

"It is because in a hive mind, I am the only true individual. All other individuals are members of other species. In short, Traz," she turned fully around to look at him; "I get lonely."

Looking into her eyes, Traz's jaw dropped upon the realization of what she was saying.

Slowly, the walls around them closed in to form a warm, loving embrace around the two infested Terran.


	13. Chapter 13

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 13: New Arrangements**

"So this new model collapses at the knees when you get out of it, automatically shutting itself off. Getting into it is as easy as simply pressing your feet into the boots and the suit simply folds up around you," the scientist told Jim, "Go ahead, try it."

"Okay," Jim said and stepped into the boots of the combat armor folded in front of him.

The suit's power plant hummed to life. Each of the armored plates that composed the suit folded together around Jim's body, quietly sealing together magnetically. The only thing Jim had to put on himself was the helmet, which he simply screwed on with his armored fingers.

"This is pretty cool," he said to the blonde haired female scientist, "Can I wear it out of the store?"

"Sure, just don't press the button on your right glove," she warned.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Its in case you fall into lava. It'll basically inflate the lower ballistic layer to compensate for the heat and stop your body from rupturing."

"When the hell would I ever have a use for that?" Jim asked.

She shrugged and made a note on her laptop. Jim shrugged back and walked out of the door just as the intercom crackled to life.

"_Sergeant Goss, please report to the bridge. Repeat, Sergeant Goss to the bridge please._"

"Well damn," Jim complained to himself, disappointed that he wouldn't be able to get food for another few minutes.

He got into the nearest elevator and rode it up to the bridge, where it opened revealing Raynor, Asuka and two Protoss: one in gold Zealot armor and the other dressed in the intimidating cloak of a Dark Templar.

"Here he is," Asuka said, jogging over to Jim and giving him a quick hug which she used to whisper in his ear, "The gold one is Massadar, and the Dark Templar is Rynatuel."

"Okay," he whispered back.

Turning back to the assembled commanders, she said, "He can take over for me while I'm gone."

That snapped Jim out of partially paying attention to anything but Asuka's body to paying very close attention to everything.

"Say what now?" he asked quickly.

"Good Sergeant," Rynatuel said as a way of greeting Jim, "Lieutenant Soryu is-"

"Did I ask you?" Jim snapped at the Protoss.

Rynatuel didn't respond verbally, instead choosing to draw his duel-bladed warp scythe, tapping it on the ground and activating the curved green blades. In a second, Jim had his Impaler trained on the Dark Templar's forehead.

"Lay down your weapon before I am forced to remove your arms from your body in one foul sweep of my-"

"You're gonna look really funny with an 8mm spike sticking out of your forehead," Jim said, cutting him off for the second time in a minute.

"Jim, face it, he'd kill you," Asuka reasoned.

"No way he can move faster than a bullet," Jim said, not taking his eye off of Rynatuel.

"Care to test that theory, human?" Rynatuel taunted.

"You bet your mothe-"

"Stand down!" both Raynor and Massadar said at once.

"He started it!" Jim whined to Raynor.

"How immature," Rynatuel said as he collapsed his warp scythe, sure that the confrontation was over.

Jim, however, didn't lower his weapon and kept it trained on Rynatuel's head.

"Jim," Asuka said quietly, planting a hand on his big armored shoulder, "Don't do it."

Reluctantly, Jim lowered the Impaler to the floor.

"Okay," Raynor sighed, "Now who besides Rynatuel wants to explain to Goss why Asuka's gonna be gone for a while?"

"Why doesn't Soryu herself do it?" Massadar suggested.

"Damn fine idea," Jim muttered.

"I will," Asuka said, "On my own time. We've got other things that need discussing."

"Indeed," Massadar agreed.

"So here's the deal," Raynor began, "Asuka will be unable to lead the mission against Kerrigan. She's decided that you should be promoted in her absence, Jim. The mission itself is being postponed due to just how badly the surface invasion of the Hive Cluster has gone. We've lost nearly sixty percent of our original invasion force and have suffered a great deal economically. At this point it would actually be cheaper to simply leave the crippled remains of Siege Tanks and Thor walkers on the planet instead of spending the gas needed to get down and back up to salvage them."

"As for us," Massadar put in; "We've just joined the fight and have already lost twenty percent of our warriors. Currently we are covering the retreat of Brother Raynor's forces from Tarsonis City and its surrounding suburbs."

"So what we're going to do is postpone the mission until an undefined later date in which we can come in with more strength. Make sense?" Asuka asked Jim.

"Yeah, but why are you leaving?" he asked.

She leaned in and whispered, "We'll talk about that tonight over dinner. My place, 1900 hours."


	14. Chapter 14

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 14: The Last Supper**

Jim checked his watch as he walked through the hallways of F Deck. It was 1850 and by his estimate he'd be early by around five minutes. In preparation, Jim had realized that wearing his armor was out of the question, which left only two alternatives: his dress uniform or his gym fatigues. In the interest of keeping the dinner somewhat casual, he'd gone with the latter of the two choices.

Reaching her room, Jim rang the doorbell and waited. He didn't have flowers or anything hokey like that since everything he knew about Asuka told him that in her independence she wouldn't like things along those lines. The door swished open, revealing Asuka.

That was when they both burst out laughing.

Apparently, she had suffered a similar dilemma to Jim in that she only knew of three outfits to wear and had, like Jim, settled on her gym fatigues.

"Come on in," she said between laughs.

Jim stepped in and closed the door behind him. Looking around, he didn't see anyone else.

"Didn't you say that Jax and Nick were living here temporarily?" he asked.

"Yeah, their barracks block is under construction so I rented out my living room floor," she said from the kitchen off to the left, "But don't worry, I ran them off for the night."

"I wonder what they're doing," Jim muttered.

Two decks down in the cantina, Nick was about ten seconds away from shooting Jax right in his annoying, unclean, cavity-ridden mouth.

"So then he says: 'why don't you just stick it in the hole?' and I say: 'because it isn't right to rape a Zerg when its sleeping!'," then he started laughing hysterically again.

"Jax, I swear to God, if you don't shut up-" Nick started, but was cut off by Jax's raunchy laughter again.

This night sucked.

"This is good!" Jim exclaimed as he took another bite out of his food.

"I'm glad you like it," Asuka said with a smile.

"What's it made out of?" he asked.

"Let's not even think about that. It's probably pretty nasty," she said.

"You're right," Jim said, "We have more important things to talk about. Like where the hell you're going."

"I'm going on a little trip with Rynatuel," she began.

"That isn't the best way to start your explanation," Jim muttered.

"I know he seems a bit…stuck up. But that's how most Protoss are. Especially a highly experienced Dark Templar like Rynatuel is," she said.

"Whatever," Jim said, blowing off the idea of getting to like the Protoss warrior, "What is the purpose of this 'trip'?"

"The Dark Templar are obviously different from the regular Protoss you find on Aiur. Unlike those normal Conclave Protoss, the Dark Templar harness their psionic powers from somewhere other than the collective," she said, her eyes aglow with ambition, "The Void."

"What's the Void?" Jim asked, wondering what it was that could get Asuka so passionate about it.

"The empty blackness between planets, stars and solar systems. The place where you can get lost in exactly the same place where you'll eventually find yourself again. That, is the Void," she explained.

"I don't get it," said Jim, who was now barely poking at his dinner.

"Well neither do I, not fully anyway. Rynatuel showed me a little bit of this power when he shook my hand. He transferred something…vast into my mind. It was wonderful," she said.

"So what, you two are just going to drift around for a long time, contemplating the meaning of life, the universe and everything else?" Jim asked.

"That's the idea," Asuka said.

"And what'll you get from that?"

"Access to knowledge that currently only Dark Templar like Rynatuel can fathom."

Jim was silent for a moment, forming the next few questions he wanted to ask in his head.

"So why is Raynor letting you do this?" he asked.

"Jim Raynor isn't 'letting' me do anything. Rynatuel came here because of me, and if I chose never to come back than I wouldn't have to. But as it stands right now, I think I will once I figure everything out," she answered.

"And when will that be?" Jim pressed.

"Who knows? A year, two years, a decade, I'm really not sure and neither is Rynatuel. He says that I'll just know when I know."

"At the current pace I'm living my own life," Jim said as a realization hit him, "I might not be around long enough to see you when you get back."

He looked up from his plate to see Asuka looking right into his eyes.

"I know Jim," she said then hit a button on the table.

Lock bolts sealed the entrance door into place. Asuka stood up slowly and walked around the table, knelt down and kissed Jim on the lips.

"I'm wondering, should I say it?" Jim thought aloud.

"I've been wondering the same thing. It could mess with both our heads later on," she said while running her fingers through his hair as he kissed her on the neck.

"I mean, I might start thinking about when I said it in the middle of a fight and freeze up," Jim pointed out.

"And I might dwell on it for a long time in the Void and go insane for not saying it," she reasoned.

"I think that we'll both have to just bite the bullet and say it," Jim said.

"On three?" she asked.

"Sure. You count," he said.

"Okay. One, two, three-" Asuka whispered.

"I love you," they both said at the same exact moment.


	15. Chapter 15

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 15: Moving On**

Jim woke up to the feeling of someone else sitting up on the corner of the bed. He rolled over to see Asuka, her long red hair hanging down across her bare back, outlined by the blackness of space in the window beyond her. Jim raised up and scooted up behind her, putting his arms around her midsection in the process.

"Jim, I'm leaving in fifteen minutes. If there's anything at all you need to say, now would be the time to do it," she whispered.

Jim sat his chin on her shoulder and looked out the window, thinking while idly drumming his fingers on her stomach.

"I can't really think of anything to say that I haven't already said," he finally told her.

Asuka kissed him on the top of the head and stood up to get dressed.

"Will you be okay having to put up with Raynor's bullshit?" she asked while pulling on her stealth suit.

"I can handle him," Jim assured her as he, too, put on clothing.

After a minute, the two stepped out of her bedroom and into the living room area where sprawled on the floor was Sergeant Jax.

"Jax, what the hell are you doing on the floor?" Jim asked.

The Confederate Marine only managed a vague sounding noise and pointed to the couch. Jim followed the pointing finger to see Nick on the couch, unconsciously toying with a D18 charge in his sleep.

"Are you gonna let them stay here?" she asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. I haven't really thought it through very carefully yet," Jim replied as he opened the door for her, instantly receiving a glare.

The two walked down the hallway to the elevator and got on. Asuka pressed the correct deck key and soon enough the elevator was off down the tracks. Neither of them said anything the entire ride and instead elected to simply stand and stare straight ahead. Asuka had her C10 canister rifle slung across her back, her Ghost armor on her body, psi knife on her hip, and a suitcase containing her dress uniform, gym fatigues, and a two pictures: one of her and her parents and another of her with her graduating class of Ghosts.

Quietly, Jim handed her a third picture. She looked at it and wondered just how he'd gotten it.

"I don't get it," she said, "We were standing alone in that bunker."

"Remember how Nick was passed out behind us with his armor on?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," she egged him on.

"Well, just because he's asleep doesn't mean his mission recorder stops working," Jim explained.

The picture in her hand showed Jim and Asuka from behind, Jim in his big bulky armor and her in her slim Ghost suit. Framed between them was the rising sun on the surface of Tarsonis, creating a brilliant glow that reflected off of both their bodies and a pool of Zergling blood staining the ground behind them.

"Thank you," she said quietly as the elevator doors opened at their destination.

"Hurry back," Jim said with a small smile as she stepped out.

Seeing Rynatuel at the end of the corridor, Jim had no urge to step out and see her all the way off the Hyperion.

"I'll try," she said and waved goodbye as the doors shut again.

Nick really, really felt like shoving a D18 charge up Jax's ass and kicking him out of an airlock at the moment. They were both walking down to the Thor bay to check up on the pilot Asuka had picked for the Kerrigan mission for Jim, who was busy getting promoted officially up on the bridge. And the entire way down, Jax would not shut up.

"So I says 'shut up before my brother hears us!' and she says 'but Jaxy, I wanta scream while we do it!' so I say-"

"Jax, shut the fuck up," Nick deadpanned.

"I say 'okay, but I'll just have to tell him it was you who made all the noise and squirted on the seats of his car' and she says 'that's not a lie, because I do squirt!' You believe that?" Jax asked.

"If I say that I do, will you stop talking to me?" Nick muttered in response.

Just then, they reached the Thor bay. Walking through the door, it became immediately apparent that Thor pilots didn't take their responsibilities seriously. There was a basketball goal directly over the entrance, resulting in a Thor pilot's tennis shoe covered feet banging into Jax's visor. If the redneck noticed the contact, he didn't show it at all.

"Where can we find Warrant Officer Ikari?" Nick asked the first pilot he saw.

"Over there by his machine," the pilot replied and pointed off to the far side of the bay.

When Nick and Jax were about halfway there, Jax noticed something.

"Something hit me in the visor!" he exclaimed.

"Really genius?" Nick replied.

"Yeah I ain't kidding!" Jax said.

"What was it?" asked Nick, not really caring one way or another if Jax figured it out.

"It was like a," he paused in thought, "Like a tennis shoe."

Nick simply shook his head as he walked up to the person lying with his head down on a desk.

"You named Ikari?" he asked.

"What? Yeah," the guy said as he sat up in the chair.

"Good. I'm supposed to tell you that the mission to take down Kerrigan has been postponed until further notice," Nick explained.

"Couldn't you have done that on your own?" Ikari asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well then why is that guy with you?" Ikari continued, pointing at Jax.

Nick looked around to see Jax holding a hydraulic pipe in one hand and poking at it with a wrench, trying to get a reaction out of it.

"I have absolutely no clue why he's here with me," said Nick.


	16. Chapter 16

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 16: Pillar of Autumn**

"Hold still and I'll put the damn pin on," Raynor told Jim.

"Yeah," Jim replied and stood stock-still as Raynor pinned the Lieutenant insignia on his shoulder.

"There you go, Goss, you're officially a-" Raynor began but was cut off by the intercom.

"_Dominion vessels inbound. Boarding craft and Wraiths followed by six heavy Battlecruisers. Red alert stations._"

"Shit. Jim, get your people together and repel the incoming boarders!" Raynor ordered as he walked out the door connected to the bridge.

Jim didn't even respond as he was already heading out the door for his quarters.

On the bridge, Raynor had taken up position behind the tactics display table in position in front of an array of display monitors.

"Sir, we're being hailed by the Dominion flagship," said the communications officer.

"Punch it up on screen three," Raynor ordered.

The screen flickered to life and showed the pompous face of Arcturus Mengsk.

"Good to see you again, Raynor," Mengsk said.

"I'm sure," Raynor retorted, making a motion with his hand to the weapons officer to charge up the Yamato cannon.

"You're outnumbered six to one, surrender to the boarding craft if you know what's good for you," Mengsk said, laying out the situation in a calm voice.

"Well, not quite Arcturus," Raynor warned, "You see, I brought a couple of friends to the battle."

Mengsk was about to reply when one of his bridge officers shouted out, "Emperor! Two Protoss carriers decloaking above us!"

"You see Emperor," said Massadar as he flickered into being on screen five, "You weren't as prepared as you had originally thought."

"Fire the Yamato cannon," Raynor said quietly, "Burn his pompous ass."

Pinpricks of angry red nuclear energy gathered at the bow of the _Hyperion_, forming a concentrated ball of whoop ass. Then with a mighty surge that if fired in atmosphere would have been heard for miles, the Yamato gun discharged, hurling the energy orb directly towards the Dominion flagship. Mengsk's flagship fired its emergency thrusters and evaded the shot, allowing it to travel past and hit the next ship in Battlecruiser in the formation in the nose, right where it had been gathering its own Yamato shot.

The two nuclear fireballs collided, grew in mass, and then exploded in an explosion that was big enough to engulf the entire ship and vaporize most of its hull.

"Massadar, now would be a good time to launch your interceptors," Raynor advised.

"Indeed," Massadar replied.

Both of the Protoss carriers ejected a grand total of one thousand interceptors each, which then proceeded to dive directly for Mengsk's flagship. The flagship retorted by moving behind another Battlecruiser, which then had to suffer the interceptor wave against its hull while only being able to muster a few laser shots in return.

In hardly any time at all, the interceptors cut their way through the armor plating and sent air shooting out into space from the injured vessel. In this spare time, however, Mengsk's flagship was able to build up its own Yamato cannon shot at its bow. Now as it appeared over the top of the wounded Battlecruiser that it had mercilessly used as a shield, Massadar called out over the radio.

"All power to shields! Prepare to take the hit!" he ordered over the ship-wide channel.

The Yamato shot exploded against Massadar's carrier's shields and made the shield visible as a bubble all around the vessel. The carrier spun around from the blast, directly headlong into the trajectory of another Battlecruiser's Yamato shot. The second shot hit it in the exact same spot that the first one had, bursting the shields into nothing and denting the rounded front of the ship.

"Massadar, are you okay?" Raynor asked.

On screen five, Massadar stood back up at his command podium. There was smoke in the background from one of the bridge consoles and a Zealot was dead, thrown over a railing behind the Templar Commander.

"We've lost our shields, and though the combined power of your ship's main gun and my interceptors have taken two ships out of the fight, I'm afraid that Mengsk has my ship right where he wants it," Massadar replied, still dignified even in the current circumstances.

"Indeed I do, Templar, and if you and your other carrier know what's good for you you'll hold back your interceptors before I put another Yamato round in your stern," Mengsk put in on screen three.

"What do you want to do, Massadar?" Raynor asked.

"I have a sudden urge to ignore him, and simply destroy all the Battlecruisers around me," Massadar answered.

"Well okay then," Raynor said and turned to his weapons officer, "Fire the second shot."

The _Hyperion _fired off its second Yamato shot, sending it hurtling into the side of one of the Dominion Battlecruisers. The ship was split in two and a series of secondary explosions ran up and down its two sides, shaking it apart into debris.

"Alenko, Carver, concentrate your fire on Massadar's ship!" Mengsk ordered the two remaining Battlecruiser's commanders while his own ship turned to warp out of the system.

"Yes Emperor!" the two commanders replied at once, turning both their ships towards Massadar's carrier and warming up their laser arrays.

Both the carriers' full complements of interceptors descended on one of the Battlecruisers, melting its hull off under the sheer force of their barrage. The second remaining Battlecruiser was just about to fire into Massadar's exposed flank, when the _Hyperion _strafed it with a full-on volley of plasma torpedoes. The Battlecruiser exploded unevenly, causing it to thrash about in space and send debris flying out in every direction imaginable.

"Where's Mengsk?" Raynor asked.

"His ship is beginning the warp process right now," replied the navigation officer.

"Mengsk, you can't run forever!" Raynor called out over the radio.

"Funny," Mengsk replied, "I was going to say the same to you."

And with that, the Dominion flagship warped out of the system.


	17. Chapter 17

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 17: Dominion Repellent**

"Go, go, go!" the Dominion sergeant barked.

The twelve Marines contained within the boarding craft rushed out into the _Hyperion_ through the hole in the wall that their craft's cutting lasers had made. Once they were all out, the sergeant followed. In the bit of hallway they had entered, the lights were on. Down the hallway on both sides of them, however, all of the lights were off, replaced with an inky blackness and preventing them from anything outside their little illuminated world.

The Dominion sergeant opened his mouth to order that the squad turn on their suit's flashlights when a D18 charge flew out of the darkness and latched itself onto his visor. The charge beeped twice and exploded, killing the sergeant and the three Marines in his immediate surroundings while deafening the remaining survivors.

Following the explosive kick-off to the firefight was a barrage of Impaler shots fired out of four rifles. The spike rounds cut into the Dominion troops and caused jets of blood to spray all over the lavish carpeted floor of the _Hyperion_. Three seconds later, all the Dominion troops were lying dead on the ground except one, who still had the life left in him to stay on all fours in the middle of the corridor while coughing up blood.

That was until Jim walked out of the shadows and viciously stomped his skull out of his head.

Outside, in the cold vacuum of space, three interceptors chased a Dominion Wraith along the top of the _Hyperion_. The interceptors were quickly dodging around, above and under radio antennas and missile turrets all the while shooting molten globs of plasma towards the Wraith. The Dominion pilot was good, however, and was able to dodge everything that the interceptors could throw at him.

Until a pair of Valkryie missiles collided with his flank and turned him into a cascading explosion roiling across the blackness.

"Sir, this room seems kind of empty, doesn't it?" asked one of the Dominion privates as he shinned his helmet lamp around the large bay.

"Yeah, I don't get it either Sarge," put in another Marine.

"Shut the fuck up! I don't want to hear any of your-" the sergeant said, starting in on a rant.

"Sarge-" said a private.

"What is it?" the sergeant shouted, wheeling on the private.

"Listen!" the private said.

The entire squad stopped and listened. All around them they could hear the grinding of gears and whirring of motors. Then as suddenly as it had begun, the noise stopped. It was when they started moving around again that one of the Marines noticed something.

"Hey, I don't remember this big blue wall being here before, do you guys?" he asked, pointing his helmet lamp at the thing he'd found.

"No, I can't say that I do," said another while stepping over to the first Marine's position.

He reached out with one neo-steel covered glove and was about to touch it, when the wall became proactive. It moved up into the air, repositioned itself above the curious private, and squished him.

"Ah shit! The wall crushed Jenkins!" the first Marine shouted.

"Shut up Mendoza!" the sergeant ordered nervously, "Don't make the ship any angrier than it already is!"

Suddenly, four industrial sized spotlights shone directly down at them from what seemed to be heaven and blinded the squad of Marines.

"Damn you Mendoza! Damn you to hell!" the sergeant shouted angrily at Mendoza.

Mendoza managed to retort, "What the fuck did I do?" before a Thor-sized canister round blanketed the area they were standing on and destroyed all chances of them getting off the ship alive.

"Sir, all Wraiths have been dealt with," the tactical officer told Raynor.

"What about the boarding parties?" he asked.

"I believe that-" then the tactical officer's head exploded.

Raynor whirled around to see three Dominion Ghosts standing at the entrance to the bridge, the one in the middle with his C10 rifle smoking from its recent discharge. The Ghost took careful aim at Raynor and slowly rested his finger on the trigger. Just then, the ceiling panel broke open and Jax fell eight feet to the floor.

Quickly, the Confederate sergeant stood up and aimed his Impaler at the head Ghost and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened.

The Ghost chuckled a bit, "Looks like you're out of luck, but seven points for the air vent trick."

"Pussy I can take you even without a weapon!" Jax spat, a bit of saliva flying out of his mouth and landing on the floor separating the two men.

"Are you kidding?" the Ghost said in a snotty manner, "I've been trained I every known form of hand-to-hand combat, weaponizing technique, and am most likely capable of reading the thoughts out of your puny little simplistic mind."

"I _never_ kid around," Jax said seriously.

"Okay fine," the Ghost leader said, handing his C-10 to the Ghost next to him, "No weapons, go."

At that moment, with a power that blew every person in the room's mind, Jax let out a mighty bellow that could only come from the lungs of a true, blue, Confederate redneck Alpha Squadron Marine and tackled the Ghost to the ground. In the process, he hit the Dominion elite soldier's head on the ground hard enough to make him dizzy.

This then allowed Jax to comfortably pummel the Ghost's face into a bloody stump barely resembling what it once was.

"See mother fucker? You ain't so hot now, are you? That'll teach you to mess with Sergeant-" Jax stopped yelling when he realized that the two remaining Ghosts were aiming their C10s directly at the sides of his head.

He closed his eyes and was about to meet death when the door to the bridge opened and a barrage of Scythe pistol rounds destroyed both the Ghosts. Jax opened his eyes to see the Ghosts dead and Nick standing in front of him.

"Nick, you're here!" Jax squealed with delight.

"Yes, Jax, I am," Nick deadpanned.

"You saved my life!" Jax exclaimed and hugged the big ex-serial killer.

Nick stared straight ahead as he whispered so quietly only he and the quivering redneck clinging to his chest could hear, "Ah shit, I saved his life."


	18. Chapter 18

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 18: Run Like Hell**

"There is no fucking way I'm taking my team onto that bastard's ship and riding with him all the way to Braxis just to return a favor for you," Jim forcefully explained to Raynor.

"Massadar isn't a bastard," Raynor countered.

"Is he a Protoss Templar?" Jim asked.

"Yes," Raynor answered.

"Bastard," Jim said with finality.

"So you aren't doing it?" Raynor asked.

"There isn't a thing in this universe that could get me on that Shuttle," Jim answered and turned to leave.

"Even the thought of not being in charge of the Kerrigan mission?" Raynor asked quietly.

The words, like a lasso around his shoulders, spun Jim right back around to face the Marshal.

"Is that a threat?" Jim asked, taking a hostile step towards Raynor.

"I don't know, is it?" Raynor countered, then added, "I remember how your parents died. I know you have a little revenge fetish for the Zerg. Be a damn shame if your racism towards Protoss disabled you being able to destroy them."

Jim stared at Raynor for a moment, his eyes darting across the older man's features as he tried to get a reading as to if he was bluffing. In the end, he caved.

"When's the Shuttle leaving?" he asked.

"Well, according to our observations the Zerg are mustering an assault wave to smear our asses all over the stratosphere, so everybody's planning on getting the hell out of Dodge in about an hour, which is to say that the rest of us are retreating to Char. Your Shuttle leaves fifteen minutes before that," Raynor explained.

"So three quarters of an hour from now," Jim simplified.

"Yeah."

"Could of just fucking said that," Jim muttered as he left the bridge.

"What's up?" Nick asked as Jim entered his apartment, which seemed to be the resident hang out spot for the squad as well as Nick and Jax's bunkroom.

"We're rolling out in forty five minutes. Get your shit together," Jim said, then turned to Ayanami; "Can you fight?"

"I can walk," she replied, sitting up from the couch.

"Good enough. Where's that Thor pilot?" Jim asked anyone who would answer.

"Isn't he in the bathroom?" Ayanami asked.

"No," Nick said, "Jax is in the bathroom, thank God."

"Then where the hell is he?" Jim asked, coming out of the kitchen after checking in there.

Jim walked over to his bedroom and hit the open button. There, lying in the bed choking his chicken, was Warrant Officer Shinji Ikari.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Jim screamed at him, pulling his flak pistol off of his hip.

"I'm sorry I didn't know-" Ikari started.

"That I might not like a faggot jacking off in my bed?" Jim shouted, "Get the fuck out of here before I shoot you!"

"I'm going! I'm going!" Ikari panted as he hobbled/ran out the door while pulling his pants up.

"You're staying here with Raynor and retreating to Char! There is no way I'm gonna get killed because you stopped to beat you meat in the middle of combat!" Jim barked at the pilot as he ran out of the apartment.

Then there was a flushing noise, and Jax came out of the bathroom with a piece of toilet paper stuck to his boot.

"That was the best case of the shits I've had in a long time!" he sighed with delight, "What'd I miss?"

"Hey, I'm back!" Traz said as he entered Kerrigan's inner sanctum.

"I don't care!" she hissed over her shoulder at him.

Traz flinched as the walls around her rippled slightly in response to her anger.

"Okay, I'll come back later," Traz said and slowly started backing out.

"Wait, Traz, do you feel that?" she asked.

"Feel what?" he asked, sincerely trying to feel what she was feeling.

"The decision Raynor has made in orbit," she explained, "He is planning to retreat somewhere…familiar to us."

"Shall I take our forces up now and destroy him?" Traz asked, eagerly twitching in anticipation of combat.

Part of Kerrigan's mind, the angry proud Queen of Blades part, told her to run Jim Raynor into the ground and piss on his corpse, while the remaining sympathetic human part told her to spare him.

For now.

"No Traz," she told him, going with the latter half of her brain, "We still have a hive cluster where he is gong. That should take care of him."

"Where is he going?" Traz asked.

"To the blackened, ash filled wastelands, of my former home," she said, "Char."

"I hope you Terran know each other rather well," said the Zealot showing Jim, Nick, Ayanami and Jax to their room on Massadar's carrier, the Tagash.

"No," Nick said before Jax could say anything, "I don't know any of these people and I request to sleep in the engine room. Fuck, I'll be a photon pipe blocker in the engine room. Anything but cramming me into a hole with this retarded redneck."

"Ah come on Nick," Jax said, "Its not nice to call Miss Ayanami here names now is it? Just because she's wounded doesn't mean you need to rub it in."

"I think even you should be able to realize just how stupid you are right now," Nick told him as the Zealot opened their room's door.

"Jesus, you guy's call this a small area?" Jim asked, amazed at how a room bigger than his apartment on the _Hyperion_ could possibly be considered small.

"I never said it was small, I mearly said that you should probably be comfortable with each other, as there are only two lavatories," the Zealot replied, "I suggest you situate yourselves. Your vessel has already warped out of the system and we are warping to Braxis momentarily."


	19. Chapter 19

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 19: Failure to Communicate**

It was morning on the ash world of Char, a place where since everything was coated in fine black powder it was impossible to see if one's next step would take him or her onto a piece of rock, or certain death in a lava flow. Currently, however, a Zerg Hydralisk was sure that he would not fall into a lava flow as he crawled up out of his burrow to meet the day.

He reared back and stretched his entire collection of 4,000 individual muscles and looked up expecting to see the sun. Instead, his face met the cold neo-steel plating of a Terran Command Center's landing strut. The large metal pad crushed the Hydralisk and turned his entire body into a pancake disk in the ash.

Inside the Command Center, the Marine in charge of the landing process simply adjusted the pressure hoses to the other landing struts to adjust for the uneven plane of balance created by the dead Hydralisk without another thought.

All across a landing zone of two square miles, Raynor's Raiders buildings were touching down along with dropships carrying Marines to secure the area. One of the Command Centers contained two Thor heavy mechanized walkers that proceeded to lumber out onto the ash plains that encompassed the landing site.

One of them was piloted by Warrant Officer Shinji Ikari.

"Ikari here, we're out of the center and are proceeding to cover landing of center three," he said over the radio to the command staff in orbit on the _Hyperion_.

The other Thor was piloted by Warrant Officer Bally, a pilot much older that Ikari but rather nice. They both walked their machines across the landing site to the place where Command Center three was supposed to land. As the center came near landing, Shinji stifled a yawn. Even though there were lava flows everywhere around him and the few Zerg left on the world had yet to be exterminated, he wasn't really to worried.

In fact he was having trouble staying awake until the center totally missed its target, a determined safe area, and plunged through the ash into a lava flow. The center sunk until only its blue top remained, which floated for a moment before it to sunk beneath the molten rock. All in all, the landing on Char was mediocre at best.

Far, far away, Jim was having the worst mission prep of his life. Massadar's people had stood silently for over an hour in a special room inside the carrier, meditating. And no matter how hard he tried, Jim just couldn't get into it. He opened one eye and slowly peeked around the room at his teammates. Ayanami was standing up against the wall, trying to blot out Jax's stupid stories while Nick stood next to him, his eyes closed.

"McCabe, did you figure out how to do it?" Jim asked.

"No, but Jax thinks I did," Nick answered, "And don't tell him that I didn't."

"Sure," Jim replied.

Abruptly, the Zealots started moving. They filed out of the room in a single file line without any communication whatsoever with the four humans.

"What the hell's going on?" Jax wondered aloud.

"I think its time," Jim replied.

A few minutes later, they were standing in a Protoss shuttle hurtling toward the surface of the snow planet Braxis. Jim had his suit securely fastened up, Impaler Gauss rifle loaded and ready to fire, and he wished he could plug his ears.

"Their pompous ways have driven them to this!" ranted the Zealot in charge of the attack team, a Protoss named Artanix, "They most definitely know we are on the way, but as long as we hold fast to the ways of Kahla, we will be prevail! En taro Adun!"

Then Artanix turned to Jim, walking right up to him to the point where had the Protoss had a mouth; Jim would have smelled his breath.

"We move with lightning quickness and strike even faster," Artanix said, "Make sure you and your kind keep up."

"You think we're slow?" Jim probed.

"No human, I _know_ you're slow," Artanix boasted.

"Yeah, well you haven't seen my team yet," Jim countered.

"Do you really think you are as fast as us?" Artanix asked.

"No buddy," Jim grinned, "I _know_ we're as fast as you."

Artanix's eyes darted over Jim's features, seemingly trying to think of a witty comeback.

"We shall see, Lieutenant, we shall see."

As Artanix moved away to talk to another Zealot, Jim turned to Nick, Ayanami and Jax.

"We gotta show this high and mighty mother fucker what we can do," he ordered, "That means stop picking your damn nose and get your glove back on, Jax."

The Confederate pulled his finger out of his nose and slipped his glove back on as Nick shook his head and looked to Jim.

"One problem," the Reaper said, "We _can't _move as fast as them and if one of the enemy Zealots gets within five feet of us we're dead."

"That's why we stick together in the following formation: McCabe on point with the heavy ranged charges to make sure they don't get close, Ayanami at rear, Jax on left flank and me on right. Listen to me for orders on focusing fire. That way we can be sure that the targets go down," Jim explained, "Any questions?"

They all shook their heads.

"Good," he said, "Just remember: one of us goes down and the whole formation falls apart. One dies we all die."

"We have arrived!" Artanix exclaimed, "Onward with the attack!"

A Zealot jumped down through the grav lift out of the shuttle. From below, Jim heard a series of psi blade punctures into metal.

"All at once," Jim said to his team.

They all jumped down the grav lift hole and floated down to the surface. Jim's boots sunk into the snow that covered the entire planet and he looked up to see a chunk of blue crystal flying at his faceplate.


	20. Chapter 20

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 20: One Probe and an Assassination**

Jim batted the crystal out of his face with one swing of his neo-steel gauntlet, causing it to impact Jax in the ear. The thickheaded redneck, however, didn't even seem to notice as he took aim at a loyalist Zealot and fired. Jim looked around and saw the thing that had thrown the crystal: a small enemy Probe hovering just above the ground three yards in front of him.

A D18 charge came out of nowhere and flew straight towards the Probe. Jim had seen Nick throw a hundred-plus of these explosives and he knew that the next step was the charge latching on, beeping twice, and exploding.

But to his surprise, that didn't happen.

Instead, the Probe activated its grav field normally used for activating warp gates and carrying mineral chunks like the one that had nearly hit him earlier. The D18 charge was caught in the field and the Probe threw it at a Loyalist Zealot. The charge latched onto the Zealot's chest plate and beeped once.

"There's no way-" Jim muttered.

The charge exploded, blowing golden armor pieces and blue blood all across the snowy ground.

"What the hell?" Nick asked, astounded.

"Quick! Give it another!" Jim shouted.

Nick activated and threw another D18 charge, which the Probe caught and launched up into the sky. Both Jim and Nick watched as the charge smacked onto the bottom of a Scout. Tracking the fast aircraft across the sky, they saw a small explosion occur on the bottom of it that then set off the fuel supply.

The scout vanished in a cloud of blue fire, debris scattering over the battleground below it. The Probe beeped happily and hovered across the snow to the Terran squad where it stopped up next to Ayanami's white-armored leg. It bumped up against her like a dog wanting a pat on the head.

"What the hell is this thing?" she asked, taking time away from keeping a Zealot pinned down behind a rock.

"It's a Probe," Jim answered.

"And it kicks huge amounts of ass," Nick added.

"I think it-"

"We don't care Jax!" Ayanami, Nick and Jim said at once.

Jax made a sad face and turned back around away from them, hurt to the core.

"What's it want?" Ayanami asked.

"Poon," Nick offered, "Everything else we've met seems to want it."

Just before Jim could retort with a comment about Nick being disappointed that he hadn't got any the Zealot that Ayanami had been keeping pinned hopped up from behind its rock and charged. It jumped towards her, activating its psi blades in mid air. The Probe quickly activated its grav field and pulled on Ayanami's leg, causing her to fall onto her back.

The Zealot missed because of this and his right psi blade got stuck in the rocky ground beneath the snow. Immediately, he started pulling on his own gauntlet to get the appendage unstuck.

"Yoo hoo," Jim called.

Looking up, the Zealot saw the barrels of an Impaler and two Scythe pistols. Then his brain turned into a layer covering a considerably large area of snow.

Standing back up, Ayanami turned to the little waist-high Probe in front of her.

"You're okay little guy," she said, then looked to Jim, "Think we can keep him?"

"I don't see why not," he replied.

"Better than fucking marshmallow head over there," Nick commented, gesturing to Jax in the process.

"We've secured the landing zone!" Artanix declared, "Let us take the rest of the area! En taro Adun!"

"En taro Adun!" shouted the rest of the Zealots in the landing party.

"Suck my dick," Jim said in a fake, sarcastic cheer as they moved out in their predetermined formation, now with their little Probe friend right next to Ayanami.

Many, many billions of miles away, Shinji was sitting in his Thor cockpit slurping a cup of coffee. His machine was positioned on the edge of the ridge designated their base of operations for the refitting process. The plan was for him to sit there for ten hour shifts with two hour breaks in between them for three weeks while Raynor made an ass load of phone calls and got more equipment and men in to help them.

After one day, Shinji counted one dropship of semi-autistic people as reinforcements. He had made a call into the Hyperion to make sure none of those new recruits came near his walker's legs. The last thing he needed was to have a Siege Tank driver-in-training knock him off balance and into the lava ten feet away from his feet.

He slurped another bit of his beverage, savoring its taste, when he saw something on his sixth screen. Magnifying the image with his free hand, he identified it as a lone Zerg, specifically a Hydralisk with a wounded arm. Calmly, he sat down his mug and slid his arms into the recoil straps on his chair. Grabbing the targeting joystick, he clicked the safety off on the array of 250mm bombardment cannons on his Thor's back.

Adjusting slightly for wind and the ashworld's Coriolos effect, Shinji slowly applied pressure to the trigger.

"Thor firing," he said into the mic in front of his mouth, alerting the base via loudspeakers and personal radio that there was about to be a bang and not to freak out.

With a mighty wham, one of the cannons belched a shell down range and directly onto the Hydralisk, promptly making it vanish into a cloud of black dirt and flame. As the smoke cleared and Shinji picked his coffee back up, he briefly wondered why it had been wounded…

Twelve miles away, the reason was quite obvious.

"I thought we were in love!" Samir Duran shouted both verbally and psionically to the woman many light-years away on Tarsonis.

"No we weren't!" Kerrigan shouted back, "You were a _pawn_. And getting angry about Traz's status and staging a rebellion with your Brood doesn't help anything at all!"

"You're just denying our love!" Duran whined, not wanting to face the truth.

"Will you stop making delusions!" Kerrigan commanded.

"But don't you remember that night? The night where we-" Duran started.

"What the hell did I just say?" she asked.

"-where we made sweet-"

"Traz," Kerrigan said, "Shut him up."

Suddenly, a C10 canister rifle shot implanted itself at the base of Duran's skull from a trajectory below Duran himself, blowing his head up off of his shoulders and into the gooey ceiling of the subterranean Hive. As the former head of the Char Brood's body fell to the ground, Kerrigan transferred command to Traz.

"Thank you, Queen," Traz said and bowed, even though she wasn't anywhere near him.

"Just get it done," she replied.

"Right away," he said and got to work sending out scouts to get a look at the Raiders position.


	21. Chapter 21

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 21: 1****st**** Wave**

Ayanami dropped a magazine out of her Impaler rifle, shouted "Reloading!" to Jax, and reached for another clip. The Confederate sergeant replied by letting loose a torrent of his own fire toward the Dragoon that Ayanami had been pestering. After nearly a full clip of ammunition, the Dragoon's shields dropped, exposing the armored material beneath to damage.

"Shields down over here!" Jax shouted to anyone nearby to hear him.

"Got it!" Jim said as he stopped next to Jax, his Impaler ready to fire with a full clip.

Just then, Artanix jumped through the air and landed on top of the Dragoon. In a flurry of strikes from his psi blades, the top of the Dragoon was split open in long gashes. The machine bucked and threw Artanix to the ground, where he landed and rolled onto his back just in time to see the Dragoon lift one of its legs above its body in line with Artanix's face.

But before it could crush his face, Jim crumbled the limb with a volley of 8mm Impaler fire. The leg bounced off track and landed next to Artanix's head instead of on top of it. The Zealot wasted no time in getting back up on his feet and jumping back onto the Dragoon's top. He stuck his hands down into the machine and wrenched the revived Protoss inside off its mounting and free of the cables connecting it to the robotic form around it.

He yanked the head out of the Dragoon and held it one-handed above his head.

"En taro Adun!" he exclaimed and smashed the head on his knee, splashing blood and coolant all around him.

"Why do they constantly feel the need to say that?" Jim asked no one in particular, "Do they think it sounds cool or something?"

Artanix stepped down off of the dead Dragoon and strode up to Jim.

"Perhaps I was wrong," he said, "Maybe you only lag behind a little, human."

"Gee, thanks dick head," Jim retorted and walked off to help Nick finish off a wounded Immortal.

"What is wrong with him?" Artanix asked Ayanami.

The blue-haired medic wasted no time giving him the bird and walking off, her friendly Probe not far behind her, holding an ammo crate in its grav field.

"I just don't understand," Artanix said to himself, "I gave him a compliment and he replies like that?"

"You know," Jax said, "Its like, a man takes a job, and he becomes that job. You know? Like a guy gets this one job and it becomes him. And if he lets it, it'll become the only thing in his life. Right? So like, with Jim, his job is being a Marine. So he becomes that job, so that makes him a Marine. You follow me?"

Artanix looked at him for a moment, wondering just how the man had managed to state such an obvious fact in such a long and drawn out way.

"Does anyone ever speak to you willfully?" he asked after a moment.

"Yeah," Jax replied as he took off his glove to pick his nose, "All the time. They love me!"

"How many of those people aren't imaginary?" Artanix pressed.

Jax didn't respond.

Shinji moved the targeting reticle for his 250mm guns across the ash plains, looking for something to pound into dust. Eventually he found something: a group of around one thousand Zerg.

"Oh shit," he said, feeling a bit of urine beginning to soak his uniform.

Quickly he flipped on his radio and disengaged the safeties on his walker's weaponry.

"Sir, I've got around one thousand Zerg troops headed straight for us," he reported as calmly as he could.

"Roger that, we'll tell the guys at the choke point to get ready," a male voice replied, "Begin bombardment when ready."

Shinji wasted no time in firing. In fact, he hardly had to aim.

Traz stood off to the side of the Zerg attack force, watching from a safe distance their progression. He was sure that they hadn't been spotted. In fact, he figured that their attack would be a complete surprise due to his lack of using any air forces to preserve that element.

Far off in the distance, he heard a series of loud whams followed by the whistling of incoming shells. Looking up into the sky in the direction of the Raiders refitting base, he could see the little white streaks that trailed the rounds as they bore down on the attack force. Realizing he was wrong, Traz could only cringe as the shells hit the middle of the formation and blew Hydralisks, Zerglings and Ultralisks alike to pieces.

Shinji watched the reloading icons as the cannons went through the process of emptying their breeches and inserting new rounds. The icons blinked green one at a time until they all read reloaded. Then Shinji squeezed off a second salvo.

Traz shook his head free of the shellshock caused by the first shelling and looked at the shattered formation. Thankfully, there were no injured members to deal with, as they would just cause difficult commanding and be more trouble then they were worth. He was about to get them all running at top speed for the choke point when he heard another whistling sound.

Looking up, Traz cursed his own optimism.

"This is fucking ridiculous," he muttered as the shells hit their marks.

The second barrage drove Traz into the dirt to avoid being hit by volcanic rocks flying through the air as debris, and when the smoke cleared he popped his head back up again to see another third of his attack force destroyed and laying dead on the ash fields. Now he made the decision to pull the remainder back and keep them from being totally destroyed by whatever the enemy had left.

That was until he saw a flight of Wraiths heading in on a side-to-side strafing run.

"No, _this _is fucking ridiculous," he corrected himself.

The Wraiths' air-to-ground lasers tore apart most of the remainder before turning around and heading back to base, leaving the survivors to retreat back to the Hive cluster.


	22. Chapter 22

StarCraft: Brain Damage

Author's Note: This update carries the series through to Chapter 30 and marks the beginning of my new update policy. I'll update to an interval of ten each Friday from here till the end of the series, which I'm happy to say is no where in sight. Please review and give me your thoughts on this new batch of chapters. Thanks for reading!

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 22: The Battle at Braxis**

The wind swept across the Braxis plains, picking up snow particles along with it and depositing them across a wide area over the course of miles. Tucked away behind a small boulder slide out of the way from the wind, were Nick, Jax, Ayanami and their little Probe ally. Currently, Ayanami was sitting down with her back against a rock, holding the Probe in her lap.

It had turned its hover field off and was simply propped up on her knees, its rigid supports sticking into the snow.

"I think he needs a name," she said to whoever was listening.

"Who, the Probe?" Nick asked.

"No, Jax's turd," Ayanami deadpanned, "Of course the Probe."

"Well don't be a bitch," Nick said as he watched Jax idly rub his butt with the thought of giving a turd special recognition.

"Maybe," Ayanami thought for a second, "Fluffy."

"That's a stupid name," said Jax.

"Why?" Ayanami asked.

"Because my turds aren't fluffy. They're more like-"

"We aren't naming one of your turds, Jax!" Nick shouted at him, causing some friendly Zealots nearby to turn and look at him funny.

"Oh, for the Probe?" Jax asked.

"Yes God damnit!" Nick screamed.

"Oh," Jax said, thinking hard about the name, "Then Fluffy sounds like a good name."

"I think so too," Ayanami said, giving the Probe a pat on the head, "What do you think, Fluffy?"

The Probe, now officially called Fluffy, beeped happily and activated its grav field in line with Ayanami's midsection, causing a tickling sensation.

"Stop it!" she said between laughs.

Fluffy quit just as Jim and Artanix thundered down into the resting area at a dead sprint.

"We must leave this place immediately!" Artanix declared to the assembled Zealots.

"We got to fucking go! Right now!" Jim said to his people and started pulling Jax up off of his ass.

"Why?" Nick asked.

Jim pointed up into the dark night sky to where Massadar's two carriers were steaming straight for the loyalist base on the other side of the boulder slide.

"Because those carriers don't know what the hell they're in for over there and I don't want to be around when their burning remains come barreling out of the sky with intent to squish us," Jim explained, "Now lets get on the fucking road!"

Fluffy the Probe activated his hover field and got up off of Ayanami's lap before picking up the ammo crate he normally carried around. Ayanami got to her feet and followed Jim out of the area, with Nick and Jax quickly bringing up the rear. Fluffy stayed right on her heels the entire time as they ran as fast as possible out from underneath the two carriers.

Interceptors flashed out of the massive vessels and began strafing the loyalist base, their blue laser fire lighting up sections of the dark sky for brief instants. Suddenly, a giant flash lit the entire night into day and perfectly illuminated one of the carriers as it was gutted from bow to stern by the source of the light: a giant warp ray.

"Don't stop to gawk! Keep moving!" Jim shouted.

Over the radio, they heard Massadar as he streamed audio from his flagship.

"_By the Kahla, they've a warp ray. Artanix, retreat with your men, I shall handle this weapon._"

"I will tell of this day!" Artanix replied.

"_Yes, I am sure that you will,_" Massadar said.

In the distance, Massadar's personal carrier accelerated and rammed the warp ray vessel, its open bow engulfing the tip of the other ship. Now almost swallowed, the warp ray fired again. This time it did the same thing that it had done to the other carrier, but since it was inside the target the resulting explosion also claimed it.

The two destroyed ships fell to the ground, exploding atop the Loyalist base and destroying it: Massadar's goal accomplished in his last breaths.

Standing up on a snow bank, Artanix turned to look over the assembled Zealots.

"Victory is ours!" he exclaimed, "En taro Massadar!"

Jim abruptly grabbed the Zealot by his long ponytail and yanked him onto the ground, pressing his flak pistol's barrel into his face at the same time.

"Victory? We're stranded here asshole!" Jim shouted in his face, "Your great leader won by destroying our ticket out of here!"

Behind Jim came the sound of around thirty-psi blades activating followed by the rhythmic clacking of his own squad loading their weapons.

"Fifteen against five, assuming you kill me," Artanix pointed out, "Do you honestly think you can win?"

Jim thought for a second, listening to the howling of the night winds across the snow covered landscape. If they died, then Artanix's people would wander around until they froze to death. If they won, then they themselves would wander around until they froze to death. If they did nothing at all, then combined, the group would wander around until they froze to death.

"Nobody wins," Jim said and tightened his finger around the trigger.

The pistol bucked in his grasp and Artanix's brain splattered all over the snow behind him. Instantly, the remaining Zealots jumped them. Nick fired his scythe pistols as fast as he could and downed a Zealot with a full two clips of ammo. He didn't reload and instead dropped one pistol in exchange for a D18 charge. He activated the charge and threw it into a Zealot's chest plate. After two beeps and an explosion, the snow had another layer of blue.

Ayanami hit the ground face first, a Zealot on her back. She struggled enough to twist her head around and see Jax make a flying tackle onto the Zealot. She got up and saw Jax beating the Zealot's face into a rock, cracking the skull and forcing luminescent blood out onto the ground. She turned to see Fluffy shaking violently, making all sorts of electronic beeping sounds in the process.

Sparks of blue electric fire surrounded him and grew in intensity until, suddenly; they dispersed across the battlefield. The Zealots all stopped what they were doing to notice that their personal deflector shields were gone, knocked out by the resourceful Probe's attack. Jim wasted no time shooting the nearest one to him square in the face with his Impaler.

Another Zealot shook his gauntlet furiously, trying to get the psi blade to activate. Unfortunately, Fluffy's attack had been directly to the conduit link between the Zealot themselves and their power suits' weapons systems, closing off the psionic link electronically. Now on even footing, the Terran soldiers executed the remaining Protoss with little trouble.

The final Zealot was on his back, crawling away from Jim as the Marine walked straight toward him with his Impaler hanging by his side.

"No! Please!" the Zealot begged.

"Kind of funny, how once your big, bad technology is gone your overly pompous and threatening demeanor reverts to this," Jim said, aiming calmly, "Begging like a little bitch."

One gunshot echoed across the area, beyond that it was simply lost in the howling wind.


	23. Chapter 23

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 23: Trek**

After spending the night huddled under some rocks, the last survivors of the Braxis invasion force began to move out once again across the snow. This time, Fluffy, or Jeffy, depending on which was in favor at the moment, led them. Jax had mistakenly fucked up and called him Jeffy, which Ayanami immediately caught on to and pointed out.

Jax, in response, claimed that he had only said that because he thought that Fluffy was a stupid name and that the Probe in reality should be called Jeffy. Nick and Jim, on the other hand, didn't really give a cup of piss anyway, since each had already made up their minds about what to call the Probe. Nick resolved never to address it directly and to always refer to it as 'the Probe', while Jim decided to go with 'shit head'.

Fluffy himself, by and large, didn't seem to care and responded to both with a series of giggle-like beeps, though it did continue to have a fondness for Ayanami more than anyone else in the squad. That morning when they started out, it took the lead and since no one else had any ideas about where to go, they started following it.

After about three hours, the impending doom of their situation seemed to settle in and the squad reacted with a mostly calm understanding acceptance to it, meaning Jax wanted to talk with Nick.

"Hey Nick!"

"No."

"Bu-"

"No."

"But I got an-"

"Idea? Do you have an idea, Jax?" Nick said, stopping and looking directly at him, "Do you really have an idea Jax? Because I've got one too. It involves your anus, a D18 charge, and me. What do you think of that idea, Jax?"

"I've got a better one," he answered without missing a beat.

Nick looked directly at him wondering how the hell he had taken that as anything but a threat before sighing and continuing his walk.

"Tell me about your idea, Jax," he said reluctantly.

"Well first, we need bunch of horny Ursadons and a big pit and a string bikini for Miss Ayanami here-"

Far away, on Char, Traz had the worst headache of his life. There were two reasons for this: one was that the shelling from yesterdays attempt to attack the Raiders base and the other was the extremely angry infested woman screaming into his head.

"Why would you not attack in unison with air forces, and better yet, why did you bunch up your forces? That was tactically unsound!" Kerrigan fumed at him.

Traz rubbed his eyes with his fingers, "I thought I could take them by surprise with a small strike force."

"We are ZERG! We don't use small strike forces! Wave attack, wave attack, wave attack!" she shouted.

"I now know that, it won't happen again," Traz replied.

"If it does, nothing will spare you from my wrath," she said.

Traz felt her presence leave his mind and he collapsed against the hive's wall, out of breath.

Back on Braxis, Jim was laying on the edge of a cliff looking down through binoculars at what lay below. A few years back when the UED had invaded the Korpulu Sector they set up a small refitting base on Braxis for Battlecruisers and so on. Most of the docking clamps for those massive war vessels were empty and rusting in the snow.

One set, however, was occupied by a huge Battlecruiser with the name _Shogoki_ stenciled in letters the size of a siege tank on the hammer-head bow.

"Well, it looks operational," Nick observed from where he lay next to Jim on the cliff.

"That's probably why shit head led us here," Jim replied.

"Maybe," Nick conceded, "Then again, maybe the Probe's leading us right into a trap."

"Just stay frosty and we'll find out," Jim said and gestured behind him for Jax, Ayanami and Fluffy to get up to his position.

The group moved down the slope slowly and cautiously entered the refitting area's walls. All in all the station looked like no one had taken a shovel to it in two or three years by the way snow was gathered everywhere in thick drifts. Fluffy hovered straight into one of those drifts, disappearing in the gathered snow.

"Jeffy!" Jax cried out and dove into the snow after him.

Fluffy exited the other side of the drift just as Jax hit his head on the asphalt beneath the gathered white flakes. Happily beeping, the little Protoss Probe continued on its way toward the docked Battlecruiser.

"I'm okay!" Jax declared as he stood up out of the snow.

"No one cares," Nick retorted, moving past the Confederate Marine.

Jax was about to respond when a voice cut him off.

"Stop right there or we shoot!" someone shouted from the walls above the squad.

"Okay!" Jim shouted back, "We're stopped!"

"Lay your weapons down!" the voice shouted.

"That's not going to happen! If you want to talk then do it, if not then open fire!" Jim shouted back.

There was no response for a moment and all that could be heard was the wind blowing a door creakily on its hinges somewhere off in the distance.

"Okay," the voice shouted, "Come on up to the Battlecruiser and we'll talk! But don't try anything! We've got shooters with you in their sights!"

"Will do!" Jim replied, "Come on guys, let's keep moving."


	24. Chapter 24

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 24: The **_**Shogoki**_

Shinji moved his Thor up into the place it always sat during patrols and put it into bombardment mode. The feet clamped down to the ground and the 250mm bombardment cannons moved into place above it, ready to put a whole lot of hurt on anything within seven miles of it. He ran a diagnostic check and saw that everything checked out before turning on the boom box taped to the back of his headrest.

Instantly, Terran techno-rock filtered into his ears. He relaxed and set the external sensors to alert him if anything came within his bombardment range that shouldn't be there. Then he leaned back, laced his fingers across his stomach, and went to sleep.

On Braxis, Jim walked up to the group of UED Marines standing outside the entrance to the _Shogoki_ Battlecruiser.

"Hey," he said as a way of greeting and held out his hand to shake.

"I ain't touching you," said the sergeant of the group, then he turned to a corporal, "I heard that these colonists can give you diseases just by touching you."

"Yep," Jim said, "Touching me or my squad anywhere can make your testicles fall off within a minute of contact."

The Marines' eyebrows shot up.

"Whatever, can I speak to your commander?" Jim asked.

"Sure," said the sergeant, "Disease ridden or not, we still need all the help we can get. Right this way."

Jim beckoned to Nick and they followed the UED sergeant into the Battlecruiser. They walked around through the corridors for ten minutes before they reached the bridge. Upon entering, Jim only saw two people. One was a woman standing in front of the tactics table looking down at it with her hands on her hips and the other was a man with glasses sitting at the helm station eating breakfast.

"Ma'am! I brought those intruders!" the sergeant said as a way of greeting.

"What?" said the purple-haired captain as she turned around from the tactics table.

"You know," stammered the sergeant, "Those intruders. To the base."

"Sergeant, they are allies, not intruders. Quit being so racist toward colonists," she scolded.

"Yes captain."

"Return to your duties," she said and dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

The Marine left the bridge and the door swished shut behind him.

"You'll have to excuse sergeant Aoba. He's had a bad coffee day today," she said and shook Jim's hand, "I'm Captain Katsuragi. The guy up front feeding his face is Lieutenant Hyuga."

"Lieutenant Jim Goss," Jim said and gestured toward the Reaper next to him, "This is sergeant McCabe."

Nick gave him a look that said 'I'm a sergeant?' Jim shook his head, indicating that they would talk about it later.

"Good to meet the both of you, but Aoba radioed in and said that there were more of you," she said.

"There's actually four of us and a little Protoss Probe," Jim answered, "They're all still outside."

"What're you doing on Braxis?" Katsuragi asked.

"We were part of the Protoss rebel attack on the Loyalist Protoss base here. We're all that's left and now we're trying to get off the planet alive," Jim explained.

"Then we seem to be in the same boat," Katsuragi sighed, "During the Battle for Char, our ship was nearly destroyed. We were just able to limp it back here as the rest of the fleet was destroyed. We landed in this refitting station and repelled a series of Zerg attacks that reduced our full crew to what you see now. When the Protoss came in, they wiped out the Hive Cluster and ignored our existence. Since then, we've been trying to get the ship back working again. Unfortunately, with only twelve people its kind of hard."

"Maybe we can help," Jim offered, "Our Probe seems to be capable of doing anything at this point. It may be able to help you in this situation."

"Even if we did fix it, where would we go?" she asked, "Earth won't take us back."

"I think I have an idea for that as well," Jim said.

"This time we will not fail! Crush the Terran stronghold under your weight! Drown them in your blood! Make sure every acid spike, glave worm, and bite is precise and deadly! Keep up the strain on their defenders! If there is any slack at all in our attack, make up for it with sheer body count! For the swarm!" Traz shouted to his assembled army, "For the Queen!"

Everything in attendance from Mutalisks to Zerglings shrieked, roared, gargled and moaned as it ran out onto the ash fields, the stealthy idea behind the last attack totally forgotten.

Shinji's eyes snapped open when he heard the sound of the proximity alert going off in his cockpit. Wiping the sleep from his vision, he sat up and looked at the screen. A cloud of ash blanketed the sky, a result of over ten thousand Zerg ground troops rushing straight for the base's choke point.

"Wave!" he shouted over the radio.

"Get the defenses ready!" Raynor ordered, "Dear God, look at the size of it."

"All Thor units, coordinate with my navigation system so that our shots don't hit the same places!" Shinji shouted.

His Thor's cannons started moving around, finding individual target areas in the wave for bombardment. Along the edge of the base with him, the rest of the four Thors that the Raiders had lined up their cannons with the places his navigation computer suggested.

"Fire!" he barked, taking charge of the situation during his panic.

The combined battery of 250mm cannons fired, their shells arching across the lava flow separating their base from the field that the attack was coming from.

Traz saw the incoming shells and noted where the Thors were located. As the first salvo landed and blew apart sections of his attack formation, Traz vowed that a second bombardment wouldn't occur. Quickly, he ordered his Mutalisks to a new target.

Shinji saw the flying Zerg units soaring right for them and prepared to perform a tactic that he had developed over two years of being a pilot. He jerked his right arm control yoke hard enough to pull a muscle, moving it far past the recommended strain point for the hydraulic gears. The limb creakily complied, aiming skyward and in line with the Mutalisks.

Shakily, Shinji held it there and fired a shot from the laser cannon that caught a Mutalisk in the midsection, causing an explosion that leveled half the flight of the creatures. With a shout, Shinji lost the strength to hold the limb up and it dropped back down into place. The rest of the Mutalisks converged on the Thor walker to Shinji's right.

Glave worms slashed into and out of it, cutting through the ammo supply for the bombardment guns and blowing the massive war machine into molten debris that cascaded over the edge and into the lava.

"We need air support!" Shinji shouted over the radio.

He was answered instantly by a flight of Wraiths that swarmed in and blew the Mutalisks out of the air.

Traz saw the Mutalisks get destroyed and called in his plan for dealing with that eventuality.

A group of Scourges screamed right for the base. The Wraiths fired their missiles, which rocketed across the lava flow separating the suicide Zerg from them. The missiles exploded in the Scourges midst, igniting their explosive bodily makeup and causing a cluster of organic explosions across the air. The remaining Scourges, however, hit the Wraiths and morphed them into cascading fireballs that hurtled toward the ground.

At the base's choke point, things were going badly. A line of six bunkers had been constructed across it and Siege Tanks had set up behind that. Now as the Zergling wave got within range, every Marine inside the bunkers squeezed and held down their rifle's trigger. Bullets smacked into carapace, and the beginning of the end of the Battle for Char began.


	25. Chapter 25

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 25: The Battle for Char**

There were so many Zerglings that Shinji couldn't tell the difference between them and the ash they were fighting on. The way that they hit the bunkers, using anything on their bodies as a bashing, clawing or slashing tool to get at the Marines inside, disturbed him. So far, the troops had been able to hold them somewhat at bay with gunfire and Siege Tank bombardment.

But just recently, they had coagulated enough that the ratio of targets-to-Marine had become too much and the imaginary quarantine line broke. The Zerglings swarmed the bunkers, climbing all over them and into the firing ports. The Siege Tanks were covered in them to the point where the creatures were crawling down the barrels and entering the tanks that way.

"Thor pilots, hit the choke point!" Raynor ordered.

"There's still people down there!" Shinji replied, refusing to fire on other Raiders.

"Look at that!" Raynor shouted, "They're done for! Hit it!"

Seeing his point, Shinji targeted the area with his cannons. They belched flame and the shells smashed into the choke point, killing everything and decimating what was left of the bunkers. Surviving Zerg stood and tried to continue the charge, maimed, when the two other Thors emptied their payloads into the area as well.

The shock wave the shells caused tossed body parts and whole creatures into the lava that flanked the choke point. Shinji watched as more Zerg ran in to fill the gap and continue the attack. His cannons were reloading when he heard another pilot shout.

"Scourge to the left!" he shouted.

Shinji looked over in time to see a wave of Scourge flying low over the lava, straight for the legs of the Thors. He turned his machine as fast as he could, the locomotors creaking from the strain put on them for more speed as he tried to aim at the Scourges.

Too late.

The Scourge hit all the Thors in the legs, blowing the knee joints apart and sending the massive machines toppling to the ash. Shinji groaned as his body was jerked against the safety straps across his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He could hear pounding against the outside as Zerglings hit it over and over again.

With extreme effort, Shinji used one of his Thor's arms to push himself over onto his back. The walker complied and did so, crushing a dozen Hydralisks in the process. Laying there, he could see another Thor being ripped open by an Ultralisk while yet another was already open and its pilot had been pulled out and his chest cavity ripped open.

Zerglings ravenously tore into the pilot, ripping his limbs off and then fighting over them. Another thing he saw was the two command centers and five barracks buildings taking off straight into the sky to link up with the _Hyperion_. He could see the Battlecruiser hovering high above the base; Mutalisks and Wraiths trading fire with each other around it.

Shinji tried to move his Thor, but its legs were to badly damaged for it to stand up, which would have been hard even if they had been functioning. The image of the _Hyperion_ and the retreating buildings was disturbed suddenly by the screen cracking down the middle. The visual feed flickered and died, plunging the cockpit into darkness.

Outside, a Hydralisk stuck both of its arms through the cockpit wall and pried it open, allowing sunlight to leak in and illuminate Shinji. The young pilot drew his sidearm and shot the Hydralisk in the eye with a slug, blowing through its brain and knocking it back off of the Thor. Then a Zergling squeezed through the crack.

Shinji expended his clip into it, causing it to die and flop on top of him. He pushed the dead weight off of him and onto the right joystick console. Another of the small dog-sized Zerg crawled through and jumped at him. He threw his empty pistol at it, which harmlessly bounced off of its head. The alien landed on him and bit into his stomach.

Shinji screamed as another Zergling clawed off his arm. A third, fourth and fifth crawled in and started mauling his legs, chest and throat. Unfortunately, through the whole process his head was left untouched. Which meant that just before death he was forced to sit there and watch as a Zergling positioned itself above him and slurped his intestines up into its mouth like spaghetti.

Then darkness finally consumed his vision.

A half-mile away, Traz stood smiling smugly to himself. From where he was, he could see two Ultralisks pushing each Thor into the lava one at a time while Mutalisks ravaged the Wraiths defending the _Hyperion_. He was convinced that the Mutalisks would do the job and that the ship that had pestered them for so long would be destroyed.

Unfortunately, God decided that things had been going Traz's way to much that day and the _Hyperion _loosed a barrage of plasma torpedo fire that blanketed the area his Mutalisks were in and decimated all of them. As their blood fell to the ground like a gore-filled rain, the massive vessel turned toward the swarmed base.

With all of the structures loaded back into their respective cargo bays, there was only one thing left for the ship to do before leaving. Pinpoints of red energy gathered at the mouth of the Yamato cannon, gathering the nuclear fireball that would spell doom for the Zerg still left on the ground.

"I never get a God damn break," Traz muttered and jumped into a Hydralisk burrow.

Once down in it, he shouted at the scythe-armed creature, "Move over!"

Outside there was a terrific bang and the entire remaining Zerg attack force vanished in a nuclear fire.


	26. Chapter 26

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 26: When I pick up the Phone…**

"Why is there a Probe working with you guy's anyway?" asked the _Shogoki_'s engineer, Lieutenant Ibuki.

"I'm not sure," Ayanami replied, "But I hope to have it looked at."

"Well if you don't mind, it can take a look at our reactor," Ibuki said a bit irritated.

"Okay. Come on, Fluffy," Ayanami patted her leg to signal the Probe to follow her.

"You call it Fluffy?" Ibuki asked.

"Yeah, I gave him that name, but Jax thinks he should be named Jeffy or something weird," Ayanami explained with a smile.

"Yeah whatever colonist," Ibuki said and kept walking toward the engine bay.

Ayanami cringed at how the engineer thought she was better than she was because she was born on Earth. In fact, she debated shooting her in the back of her unarmored back and just dealing with the inadvertent firefight with the rest of the Battlecruiser's crew afterward. But then they would be left with no one who could fly it out of there and they'd just be living on a beached spaceship for the rest of their lives.

They entered the engine room and Fluffy instantly started beeping happily. He pushed past Ibuki and in the process either accidentally or purposely bumped her hard enough to throw her onto her ass.

"You little piece of Protoss trash!" she shouted as he floated away to start working on a conduit that had been ruptured from what looked like a Hydralisk arm blade.

Ayanami briefly thought about which was more stuck up: the Protoss Conclave or the United Earth Directorate. She decided that she would think more on it later.

"What the hell's wrong with that thing?" Ibuki asked.

"I guess he just doesn't like stuck up people, that might be why he left the Protoss," Ayanami smart mouthed.

Before Ibuki could do anything, Ayanami left the engineering bay.

"So why was I promoted?" Nick asked Jim as they both stood in the ship's machine shop.

"I needed a second in command and since Ayanami's always busy doing her duties as a medic, and Jax is a retard, I was kind of left with you," Jim said without looking up from what he was working on.

"So the lesser of three crappy troops?" Nick asked.

"None of you are crappy troops," Jim explained, looking the Reaper right in the eyes.

"Except for Jax," Nick retorted.

"Is he still breathing?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," Nick answered.

"Then he's good enough for the job," Jim said with finality.

He then lifted up his ballistic shield that he'd been modifying on the welding bench. It now had a rather sharp titanium spike welded on the front of it so that shield-bashing enemies became even deadlier.

"What do you think?" he asked Nick.

"Remind me never to be in front of that when you're pissed," Nick replied.

Jim barked a short laugh, "Yeah, that's exactly what I hope the Zerg won't realize."

A half-hour later, Jim walked into the bridge to see Katsuragi talking with Lieutenant Hyuga.

"We're what?" she asked, astonished.

"We're at seventy five percent power," Hyuga said, surprised as well by the sound of his voice, "What ever that probe is doing, its working."

"So how long before we can leave?" she asked.

"Ibuki says we'll be running in about four hours," he said.

"That's great news," she said, then turned to Jim, "Now we've got to figure out where we're going. You said you had an idea."

"Yes I do, is your long range communications system working?" he asked.

Raynor stood on the bridge of the _Hyperion_, drinking a flask of whiskey and debating suicide. The battle on Char had cost him almost all of his forces just to hold back the Zerg wave attack and get the buildings off of the ground. Then Mutalisks destroyed all but three of his Wraiths as they fought to keep the heat off of the buildings and the _Hyperion_ itself.

Basically, he was crippled militaristically. So he figured, why not end it all? He was a wanted man by the Dominion, and no one would join his cause after two defeats like the ones he'd suffered in the past few weeks. He pulled the flak pistol he carried around out of his belt and looked at it thoughtfully. Then he looked over at the flask of whiskey.

"Is this what I've been reduced to?" he asked himself, "A suicidal alcoholic? How pathetic."

Just before he was about to go through with his suicide, the helmsman said something.

"Sir, I'm getting a transmission from Lieutenant Goss on Braxis. I'll patch it through on screen one."

The screen flickered to life and revealed Jim standing on the bridge of a Battlecruiser, behind him Raynor could see two people in UED navy uniforms talking while a Reaper relaxed by a terminal talking to a white-armored Confederate.

"Jim, I'd really like to hear your story for this one," Raynor said, temporarily forgetting his suicidal thoughts.

"Sure thing," Jim said and took a deep breath, "Basically, Massadar got the shit kicked out of him royally but did manage to take out the Loyalist base. Unfortunately, his invasion force didn't survive long enough to reap the rewards occupation would have gained them. My squad is all that's left."

Raynor looked back down at the flak pistol.

"But there is good news," Jim continued, "We found a UED Battlecruiser called the _Shogoki_. Its crew has been trying to get it fixed with the incorrect equipment and less manpower than necessary for roughly a year or so. We brought our probe in and it'll be up and running in four hours. Where can we meet you?"

Raynor thought about what Jim had just said. He hadn't said 'can we meet you?' he'd said 'where can we meet you?' People still counted on him and thought he was worth something. Maybe, just maybe, there was a little bit of hope.

"Sir?" Jim repeated, "Where can we meet you?"

"Set your course for Aiur, there shouldn't be any Zerg, Protoss or Dominion forces there. We can take a breather and think of what to do next," Raynor said.

"Got it Marshal, we'll be there by tomorrow," Jim said and despite how tired he looked still managed a salute.

The screen went off and Raynor looked to the helmsman.

"Lay in a course for Aiur, ASAP," he said and looked back down at the bottle of whiskey and flak pistol on the table in front of him.

He thought for a second, holstered the pistol and tossed the whiskey in a trashcan near the tactics table.


	27. Chapter 27

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 27: Leaving Braxis**

Jim sat on a hill overlooking the shipyard with falling snow settling on his armor; the aftershocks of the blizzard experienced the night before. He'd climbed up there to get away from everything for a minute, to just for a minute have some time alone to think. Sitting there with nothing to trouble him for a moment, Jim found that his mind only wandered for a minute before settling on Asuka.

He wondered where she was, what she was doing, and what she was thinking about. Out there in the Void it mustn't be much different then it was right here, he supposed, with nothing to do but think like he was at the moment. Maybe her thoughts wandered to him quite often just like his did to her. He liked to think that she thought about him, it made him feel better to know someone cared.

Jim wondered for a moment just why he fought like he did and if he was really accomplishing anything. This thought crept into his mind every now and then, so he recited the line that he always told himself when it occurred.

"You're a Raider. It's what you do and yes you are accomplishing something."

Four years ago, it was Confederate instead of Raider. It still worked, but for a different reason. He didn't believe it was so much because he was a Raider, but because he wasn't saying Dominion in place of it. No matter what happened, he wasn't going to become one of Mengsk's drones. He'd known men who'd turned on them during the war; they'd all been spineless.

Of course he left the Confederacy as well, but only after the Zerg had overrun Tarsonis. He'd joined the first resistance group he could find that was worth a damn, and that was Raynor's Raiders. He was there as a grunt during the first attack on Char to get Kerrigan back and was there all through the Brood War.

And through all of that he had never once cared about anyone much at all. Sure, there'd been the sense of combat comradery and a couple of one night stands with some medics that he still dodged in the halls, but no real feelings for anyone.

Until Asuka showed up.

Now he couldn't stop thinking about her. All of the little things: the smell of her hair as she kissed him on the neck, the sound of her voice, the look of her blue eyes, the things she said to him, the fine hairs on her leg as he traced lines up it with his fingers, the touch of her hands on his face, and most importantly how she made him nervous to screw up when talking.

"Okay," he said, his voice cracking, "That's about enough alone time."

Jim stood and was about to walk down the hill when he heard footsteps behind him. He whirled, bringing his Impaler up into firing position in the process. Standing seven feet away from him was a Protoss Zealot, holding an injured arm like a dead weight.

"Do not fire!" he said, "I am here peacefully!"

"Stop right there and start talking fast before my finger slips," Jim said coldly.

"I was in one of the carriers when the Warp Ray attacked. I barely survived and spent many hours looking around for other survivors. When I found none, I wandered upon your footsteps and followed them here," he explained.

"Well what do you want? A hug?" Jim asked, not taking his aim off of the alien's head.

"No, I would like to assist you in exchange for medical treatment," he said, then added, "I can recite my combat record for you-"

"No, no don't worry about that," Jim said and lowered his rifle, "We've already got a probe on our team, so we couldn't get much weirder anyway. Come on, follow me."

Once they reached the entrance to the _Shogoki_, sergeant Aoba instantly jumped them with questions.

"What in God's name makes you think you can bring a Protoss in here?" he asked, signaling his team to get ready for a fight.

"He's wounded and besides we can always use more help. Its not like he can eat up many supplies, he doesn't even have a mouth for eating," Jim explained.

"Well I'll have to notify Captain Katsuragi immediately!"

"Go ahead and do that," Jim said, walking with the Protoss behind him up into the ship, "And tell her if I'm needed we'll be in the medical bay."

As they walked through the sparse corridors of the ship, Jim quizzed the Zealot.

"First off, since everything weird seems to be automatically put under my direct control, what's your name?" asked Jim, taking a right for the medical bay.

"Nanius, from the great tribe of-"

"Yeah, about your tribes and shit. I don't care. Protoss tribal guidelines, the Kahla, and the Conclave don't matter for you anymore. As long as you're with us, you're a Raider. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides your physical health, tactical position in a firefight and availability to cover my ass, I don't care about you. Now maybe that'll change the more and more we fight together, but until then, don't tell me about your tribe," Jim explained.

"Blood is thicker than water," Nanius said in agreement.

"Sure, I guess," Jim said and opened the door to the medical bay.

Walking in, he saw that Ayanami had made herself at home. Her armor was off and sitting in one corner while she worked in a tank top and shorts at the chemical bench.

"What the hell?" she said as the two soldiers walked in.

"His name is Nanius, he's wounded and I want him on my team. Get to work," Jim said, laying it all out quickly.

Just then the door opened and Katsuragi entered.

"Jim, we need to talk about this," she said.

Jim walked out into the hallway behind her and shut the door. From inside, Ayanami and Nanius could only hear muffled shouts.

"You can't just bring a Protoss on board like that!"

"Why not?"

"Because we have regulations not allowing any intelligent aliens from this sector on board a UED vessel!"

"Have you looked around lately? There's no one here to court martial you, Captain! Its just us and the entire world against us! If you think that having another fighter on board could possibly hurt us then I don't think you're that much of a commander after all! What do you have to say to that?"

Silence.

"Yeah, didn't think so."

The sound of Jim's boots clambering off down the hallway was heard, before the door opened and Katsuragi poked her head in.

"Just fix him up and have him report to the bridge afterwards," she ordered Ayanami.

"Roger that," Ayanami replied.

Katsuragi left just as the docking clamps were released from the hull and the ship floated freely. The engines engaged and the Battlecruiser headed for the atmosphere, snow scattering behind it at the sudden rocket activation.


	28. Chapter 28

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 28: Aiur**

"I am disappointed in you, Traz," Kerrigan said as he entered the primary Tarsonis Hive building's inner sanctum.

"You had me come all the way here from Char just so you could tell me that one thing?" he asked, wondering briefly if she'd lost her marbles.

"That," she said, turning to face him, "And I wanted to see the look on your face when I kill you."

"Now hold up!" he shouted, shielding his face with his hands.

"Why?" she asked, waving a group of Hydralisks out from around him.

"I did manage to tag his vessel with a parasite tracker, so the battle wasn't a complete loss. Also, I calculate that I've killed off over ninety percent of his remaining forces," Traz said as fast as he could.

Kerrigan tapped her lower lip with a clawed finger as she thought for a second, "Is that so?"

"Yes," he replied, nodding up and down hurriedly.

She looked him over, thinking hard about what to do next. Traz could literally feel the Hydralisks staring at him, ready to put a volley of acid spikes in his body from every angle imaginable at the snap of Kerrigan's fingers. Finally, she made up her mind.

"Maybe you're worth something, Traz. In time, you may become one of my most valuable assets," she said as the Hydralisks retreated out of the room.

"Thank you, my queen," he said as he suppressed a relieved sigh from escaping his lungs.

Kerrigan grinned, revealing a set of yellow infested teeth.

"Traz, where did he go?"

The peacefully quiet jungle plains of equatorial Aiur were filled with small wildlife animals. Since both the Zerg and Protoss had retreated from the world, the animals had slowly come out of hiding in the dense jungles and now roamed the plains freely, napping when they wished in the ruins of the pre-Conclave buildings that dotted the planet in disrepair.

But all that was about to change as two Terran Battlecruisers broke the cloud layer and headed for the ground, their engines roaring and sending the wildlife running for cover. The vessels' landing struts extended in a hiss of steam and sunk into the ground as they landed under the great weight that each was holding.

All eighteen of the _Shogoki's _crew came out and met Raynor's party halfway across the distance between the landed ships.

"Jim, how the hell are you?" Raynor asked, shaking Jim's armored hand.

"I could be better, Marshal," Jim replied.

"Yeah, couldn't we all," Raynor replied, then turned to Katsuragi, "And you are the captain of this vessel I'm guessing?"

"Correct, I'm Captain Katsuragi," she said and shook his hand.

"Good to meet you, Captain," Raynor said.

"Same to you," she replied.

"So, what gives with the big landing party sir?" Jim asked, nodding to the seven Marines and three Firebats behind Raynor.

"Well, here's the thing, they're all that's left of my infantry troops. Everything else died in the Zerg attack," he explained.

"Things just don't ever get better," Nick observed from where he was standing with Ayanami, Jax and Nanius a few yards away.

"At least we'll get some time off," Ayanami said.

"In this outfit, I didn't know we had time off," Nick retorted.

"Ah come on Nick!" Jax said, "Don't you remember all the time we spent hanging out in the _Hyperion's _cantina?"

"Honestly Jax, I try not to," Nick replied, watching conversation progress in front of him.

"Did you actually recruit anyone at the Char base?" Jim asked Raynor.

"Yeah, most of what you see here behind me is made up of new recruits. Plus, a Confederate Ghost met us there," Raynor replied, "His name's Master Sergeant Kahn, Gabriel Kahn."

"Never heard of him," Jim said.

"I'd certainly hope not, else he wouldn't be a very good Ghost," Raynor countered.

"Whatever," Jim said, brushing off the comment, "I'm gonna get a perimeter going and start scouting the area. Can I use what you've got left here?"

"Sure Goss," Raynor said and turned to Katsuragi, "So which comes first, my tour of my ship or you or your own?"

"You first," she said with a smile.


	29. Chapter 29

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 29: The Ursadon Situation**

Aiur's sunrise was a peaceful sight, casting amber reflections off of the many streams and rivers that crisscrossed the jungle clearings. But, inside the _Shogoki's_ engine room, things were very chaotic. Jim, Nick, Jax and Katsuragi stood in the entryway looking into the dark room, listening to the roars coming from within.

"What is that?" Jim asked.

"It sounds like my cousin when she's getting-" Jax started.

"Stop right there," Nick said, "And think: do you really want to continue?"

"Continue what?" Jax asked, the look on his face showing blatantly that he had in fact forgotten what he had been about to say.

"It sounds like an Ursadon to me," Katsuragi mused, "Maybe even more than one."

Jax abruptly turned around and walked away, calling out, "Miss Ayanami! Get your string bikini! We found Ursadons in the engine room!"

"Shut the fuck up Jax!" Nick whispered, "They might hear us."

"What're you talking about?" Jax said, turning around, "I don't see a God damn th-"

Just then, a roaring rabid Ursadon leapt out of the darkness and hit Jax in the chest. The two combatants hit the ground rolling in a flurry of slashing claws, punching fists, roars and a steady stream of florid curses from Jax.

"How the hell did that get in here?" Jim shouted to Katsuragi.

"It must have slipped past the security sweep!" she shouted back.

"Then your security team must have been asleep! Because a blind guy could have seen that mother fucker!" Jim shouted, charging the bolt on his Impaler.

Jax got two of his legs under the massive white-haired animal and kicked it up against a wall, allowing him to stand and run into it in a tackling motion that cracked its exposed rib cage. The Ursadon wailed and slammed its chin down on Jax's retracted visor, cracking the glass into a thousand pieces that rained down on the floor.

"Jax move so I can get a shot at it!" Jim barked over the creature's roaring.

Jax ignored him and instead jabbed one of his neo-steel covered fingers into the animal's right eye socket. Blood fountained out of the wound, causing the now halfway-blinded Ursadon to roar even louder and bite Jax's hand.

"Fuck!" he shouted and with his other hand proceeded to beat it on the snout with the bottom of his balled up fist.

But the Braxis native held fast, its teeth actually starting to make a series of dents in the armor. Thinking fast, or rather as fast as his simple mind could think, Jax kicked the alien polar bear in the nuts. Its remaining eye tucked into its tear duct, making Jax believe that if possible it would have been crossing its eyes.

It let go of its bite and flopped to the corridor ground, wheezing from the pain. Jax head butted it as hard as he could, knocking both himself and the Ursadon out. The Ursadon fell backwards onto its back and Jax onto its stomach. Soon the two were snoring.

For a moment, Jim, Nick and Katsuragi simply stood there, amazed at what they had witnessed the man do. After a full minute, Nick finally came up with something.

"Uh, what should we do with him?" he asked.

Silence.

"Let's just let them wake up together, in each other's arms," Jim suggested.

"Yeah that sounds good to me," Katsuragi agreed.

"He's in to bestiality anyway," Nick mumbled as the trio left, giving the sleeping couple a wide berth.

Fluffy the Probe was happy as he scooted along the corridors of the _Shogoki_ headed for the medical bay where Ayanami was working. In his grav field he held a baby Ursadon that he had found in the engine room. It had been tucked up behind a coolant pipe and when he saw it, Fluffy decided that his love interest might find cute/adorable/whatever.

He turned the final corner and entered the medical bay where Ayanami was working at the chemical bench. He beeped loudly to get her attention and as she turned around he plopped the baby Ursadon on the bench.

"Oh hi there, oh! What's this cute little guy?" she asked, picking up the baby Ursadon.

Fluffy beeped proudly that he had won her approval.

"How are you?" she said in baby-talk to the small animal, "You need a name! Oh yes you do! I think…Fluffy should do nicely."

Down on the ground, Fluffy the Probe felt his coolant lines go cold. He, unwittingly, had replaced himself as Ayanami's favorite companion! This was the worst mistake he had ever made since he'd been put into service. Quickly, he tried to rectify the problem by rapidly bumping into and out of Ayanami's leg to get her attention away from the little abomination on the bench.

"Ugh, what do you want Probe?" she asked, annoyed at being distracted from her new favorite friend.

He beeped as fast as he could, hoping to convey that there had been a grave mistake and also that the little creature was infested with a Zerg strain and could transform to eat her face off at any moment. But to no avail, as she mearly nudged him out of the door and shut it behind him.

Now refused the name Fluffy, the Probe simply wandered the halls of the Battlecruiser it called home, wondering if it even had or was worthy of a home after what had happened. He was headed to the engine room to throw himself into an open exhaust coupling when he came upon Jax and the adult Ursadon, still comatose on top of each other.

The Probe got an idea and quickly used his grav field to pull the Ursadon into the exhaust coupling he had intended to use for his suicide and watched it burn into ash for a second before going back to the sleeping Jax. Quietly, he snuggled up next to the stinky redneck, trying to feel loved. In his sleep, Jax put an arm around the Probe and pulled him closer to feel the cold metal of his frame.

And finally, Jeffy the Probe had a home once again.


	30. Chapter 30

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 30: Betrayals I**

The doors to the Shakuras Citadel of Twilight opened soundlessly, allowing for the only sound to be that of the settled dust around its frame moving in the blue light provided by the system's white dwarf star. Strangely enough, the cloaked figure standing at the entrance couldn't remember ever hearing the sound of dust moving before in her life.

She contemplated that it must be one of the many enhancements done to her as a result of traveling within the Void. The Citadel's interior was dark, but soon brightened up as a series of panels high up on the walls slid open, allowing the twilight to leak the large chamber. Slowly, she stepped inside and put her cloak's hood down.

The Void and her teacher had provided her with as much knowledge as was humanly possible at this point, but without a life span of many centuries, wandering the Void like a deep-thinking bum was completely out of the question. The only place to find that much knowledge fast enough was here, in the Citadel of Twilight.

For many millennia the Dark Templar past their knowledge on to the generations to come after them. Eventually, this practice became frowned upon due to the way that it took the experience gained from discovering the knowledge away from the learner. In the end, all of this knowledge was past on into a Khalis crystal that was stored in the Citadel.

Over the years, the folklore surrounding the sealed building up on the mountain overtook its own factual history. No one knew for sure what was sent to guard the crystal of knowledge itself, but many called it the 'Harbinger'. She wasn't sure why it was called that, but that name combined with the reputation the Citadel got was enough to make her head in at rapt attention.

And the way that the panels had opened to allow light into the main path made her a bit more than nervous that something might be lurking in the pitch black shadows at the base of the angled walls, waiting to pounce on a moments notice. Slowly, she stepped into the building. From a lifetime of being quiet, her footfalls were reflexively silent as she moved across the blue stone floor.

Ears attuned for even the slightest sound; she entered the center of the hall that made up the Citadel. Looking around, she didn't see any sign of the crystal she was looking for and was about to start snooping around in the shadows when a small metallic noise echoed across the hall and out the open doors to willow across the planet's silent plains.

In a flash, her warp blade was out and activated in her right hand. Then as if on cue, the doors shut with a deafening clang. She wasn't worried. If worst came to worst she could always crawl out the open window panel slits.

Suddenly, what looked like a much larger than normal Dark Templar Stalker jumped out of the shadows and into her path. It seemed to hesitate when it noticed she was not a Protoss, but rather a Terran. It only stayed like that a minute and then lunged at her, its two fore legs lashing out as spears. She knocked one away with the warp blade and slid under the rest of its body.

With its right rear leg it pinned the cape of her cloak to the ground before she could roll to a standing position. It dragged her back under its body and raised another of its legs to crush her face. She looked up and saw that it also had a 360 degree camera node on the bottom of it as well as the top, giving it all around vision.

Quickly, she slashed the camera node off with her warp blade, causing the Harbinger to recoil off of her. Using that chance, she stabbed it again in the underside before rolling out and slashing a deep cut in its flank, letting blue robotic coolant ooze out.

It didn't take to kindly to the injury, as it rotated its top turret around and into line with her body. The laser cannons on the top warmed and she didn't need a second warning, jumping out of the way just as they fired. The twin blasts blew chunks out of the stone wall and sent steam billowing throughout the hall. Rolling into a crouch, she turned while producing a C10 canister rifle out from under her cloak.

The weapon was already loaded, and she squeezed the trigger, causing the rifle to buck. No sooner had the bullet left the barrel did the Harbinger teleport out of the way. Her shot hit the closed doors and blew chunks out of that as well. Just as the first shell-casing hit the ground, the Harbinger blinked into existence right in front of her.

It jabbed at her with one of its legs and she blocked it with the C10, resulting in the weapon shattering under the impact force. It did stop the limb, however, which was all she needed to draw out her warp blade and hack the leg off. As the Harbinger recoiled from the lost appendage, she jumped and stabbed it in the upper camera node.

Now blind, the robot stumbled around the hall, running into walls until it finally knocked itself over onto its back. As a final coup de grace, she jumped into the air, spun around diagonally, and sunk the warp blade deep into the Harbinger's heart. A few residual electronic signals were sent from its dying conscious to its limbs, causing them to twitch for a moment, and then it went still.

Behind her, she heard the sound of stone moving against stone and turned to see a pedestal had emerged from the Citadel's floor. On it, sat the Khalis crystal she'd come all that way to recover. And next to it, stood Rynatuel.

"Adun Toridas," he said, drawing his warp scythe, "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but you seem very stubborn."

She remained silent and chose to simply draw her warp blade.

"Silence?" he asked, "I admire that. No questions, no confusion, just you and I."

And with that, they joined in combat.


	31. Chapter 31

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**Author's Note: Here's the next barrage of chapters. I'm personally really happy about how this bunch turned out, and feel like they sort of encapsulate the way that I want the series to progress. Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading.**

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 31: Betrayals II**

Rynatuel slashed down at her with his warp scythe, instigating a quick block from her. The two blades sparked when they clashed, sending little trails of fire across the stone floor around them. Instead of pulling back and making another swipe, Rynatuel sidestepped and swept up at her with his weapon's second blade, turning the staff in the process to angle the attack correctly.

She jumped up and used his own staff as a pole to swing around and kick him in the side of the head. He stumbled and fell to the ground while her momentum carried her into a roll that brought her up onto her feet again five yards from the large fallen Dark Templar. She spun about, thinking he would still be on the ground, only to find him up and swinging his weapon in a side-to-side sweep.

She jumped back just in time and the green blade of the scythe only connected with her cloak, making a gash in it that revealed her taunt bare stomach. As she continued to back up, evading another swing, she felt her heels hit the slanted wall of the structure. Rynatuel swung and she jumped up, pushed off of the wall and flew over him.

In mid air, the Protoss reached up and grabbed her leg. He threw her across the floor toward the door with enough force to break the shoulder she landed on in two places. In a pained grunt, she stood up and with great sadness realized that her warp blade had come loose of her grasp, switched off and slid across the stone floor of the Citadel where it now lay as a mere handle thirty feet away.

And in between it and her, stood Rynatuel.

"As I mentored you," he explained, "I knew that this day might come. For you have probably deduced by now that I am the true Harbinger. Taking you on as a…apprentice is not what I do full time to serve the greater good of the Protoss. That gifted Stalker is a guard in my absence, or was a guard in my absence. I am truly sorry but my job takes precedence over your life."

And with that he swung the scythe up from the ground in a diagonal slice that would have been impossible to evade. But then, in a lightning fast reflex, she drew her flak pistol from where it was holstered out of sight within her cloak and fired four quick shots from the hip. The heavy rounds hit Rynatuel in the stomach and fragmented out inside his body, ripping his insides to shredded bits of confetti.

With a psionic groan, he dropped his warp scythe and fell to the ground writhing in pain. Standing, she kicked the now blade-less staff away into a corner and put the rest of her clip into his gut. He reacted dramatically, convulsing up and down with each impact. Then as he came to terms with the state of his bleeding gut, she stepped over him and retrieved her fallen warp blade on the way up to the Khalis crystal of Knowledge.

Holstering her pistol on her right hip and slinging her warp blade on her left, she placed both hands palm first on the crystal's sides. After a moment, a low humming reverberated around the chamber as the crystal transferred all that it held into her. The information coursed through her veins, untold multitudes of power that had rested and magnified in captivity over the years, making it all the more powerful.

After a full five minutes, the humming had increased in pitch to the point that the psionic pulses it emitted were pouring out of the building and rocketing across the glass-like landscape around to the nearest Protoss settlements, waking the inhabitants up in the night. The vibrations caused Rynatuel's scrambled insides to jumble around awkwardly, making them hurt even more than before.

After another five minutes, the humming morphed into a high pitched shriek, akin to the death of a thousand Zerglings held out for a prolonged period of time. Her body shook from the force of the transfer and it looked to Rynatuel as if she might be shaken apart.

Then it stopped.

The sudden stillness was deafening to behold, the jarring of shrieks reverted back to complete and utter nothingness. Slowly, she retracted her now steaming palms from the crystal and placed them at her side, casually feeling the sides of her black cloak. After a bit, Rynatuel gathered the guts to ask her a question.

"How do you feel?" he asked, his signal strained from the pain of the stomach wounds.

From the rear, he could see her look up from the crystal, showing that she had in fact noticed his query. Then she turned, slowly, and held out her right palm. He was about to ask what she was doing when a tremendous psionic burst of kinetic energy hit him in the chest and sent him up into and out of the doors, across the cool-colored rock outside and off of a cliff.

Quickly, he grabbed the edge of the cliff with one hand before he completely fell. After a moment she appeared above him, his collapsed warp scythe slung across her back. Her hood was back up, obscuring his view of her eyes with its shadow.

"Actually," she said quietly, "I feel fine."

And with that, she ground her shoe into his fingers, causing him to let go of the cliff edge and plummet to the ground below. The last thing he saw before his death was the small star in the sky and thought that it looked a bit dimmer, as if it were dying slowly as it continued its little job in the cosmos. Then he hit the ground.

No wind whistled, no breeze was stirring and no sounds of nocturnal wildlife existed as Shakuras continued its nightly routine unabated in silent twilight.


	32. Chapter 32

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 32: Hyperion Cleansing**

Jim walked through the hallways of the _Shogoki_, shaking his head to ward off the effects of a bad dream he had experienced a few minutes before.

He had woken up in his cabin, sweating profusely, his off duty T-shirt soaked with it in fact. He'd been shaking as well, that was it, the uncontrollable shakes that had accompanied the dream. If he had been shaking in the dream or just in real life, Jim couldn't say. After a two-minute shower of extremely hot water and a cup of coffee, he couldn't remember much of it at all except for the memory of it being incredibly vivid.

The color blue, incredible power, the smell of blood, all just fragments of what he could recall from the experience. Jim had experienced post-combat nightmares before, but they had never bothered him as much. It was for that and the fact that he hadn't seen any action in a week that made him sure that the dream wasn't a PC nightmare.

Jim tried to put the thoughts behind him as he entered the Battlecruiser's bridge, all business and in his power armor. Upon entrance, it became immediately apparent to him that things weren't operating in a very routine manner. Funny, thought Jim, that sitting on the abandoned Protoss home world in a vessel run by traitors to the UED where there was an Ursadon as a pet and a friendly Probe named Jeffy could be considered routine.

"What's going on, Captain?" Jim asked Katsuragi.

She turned around and looked at him while pointing at the main screen, "That's what's going on."

Jim looked at the screen and saw it was displaying live feed of the _Hyperion_ where it was parked half a mile away from them in the dark. Along its flank were spotlight beams, playing across it as if looking for something, anything, to be wrong. He was about to ask what the big deal was when he noticed that the entire ship was in lockdown: windows covered by blast plates and doors sealed tight as though it was in battle.

"What's up with that?" he asked her, looking away from the video feed.

"Thirty minutes ago he sealed up and we've been trying to get on the horn with him since. Those spotlights are from our missile turrets," she explained.

"Why are you pointing missile turrets at Raynor?" Jim asked, adhering to the unofficial rule of assuming that the only person who could answer the radio/be on the _Hyperion_ was the former Mar Sara lawman.

"Well what if he is going into battle mode and intends to attack us? I know it sounds crazy considering its Raynor, but we've got to make sure, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Jim said reluctantly.

A few minutes passed of just watching the spotlight beams play about on the other Battlecruiser before their hails were finally answered.

"_Shogoki_ this is Master Sergeant Kahn," said Kahn as he appeared on the main screen, "Sorry we couldn't get on the line earlier, but we've been a little busy."

"Busy with what?" Katsuragi asked, ready and willing to put a volley of missiles into the ship's side in a heartbeat.

"Our sensors detected a Zerg life form on board a few minutes ago. Raynor ordered a combat lockdown to keep it inside until we can find and kill it. We're currently combing the ship," Kahn explained.

"Roger that _Hyperion_," Katsuragi replied, "Let us know if we can do anything."

"Will do _Shogoki_, _Hyperion _out."

The main screen fuzzed a bit before clicking to black.

Across the landing site, inside the _Hyperion_, things were looking a bit hopeless for the search teams. Raynor was leading one consisting of himself, a Marine named Parker and a Firebat named Conti. They had been walking down corridors busting open air vents and checking broom closets for the past hour in their search for a Zerg that seemed to be as elusive as a Ghost.

Then again, the ship was a big area to be searching with just a few men and they'd be lucky if they found it at all. Taking a turn, the trio moved up a large lavish staircase that Mengsk had installed when the ship was still part of his fleet. Raynor felt his boots sink into the carpet just like they did every time he sat foot in the halls or bridge or his cabin or bathroom…pretty much every time he walked in the ship.

He wondered if maybe the Zerg could be hiding in the carpeting when Conti screamed. Spinning around, Raynor spied the Firebat with a green glob of semi-liquid puss convulsing on his face. Logically, it could only be the Zerg life form that their sensors had detected. Before Raynor could do anything, however, Parker aimed and fired.

The Impaler's spike round punched through the green blob and into Conti's face. But instead of stopping there, the spike continued through into the Firebat's tank and ignited the napalm fluids within. Conti vanished in a fiery explosion that rumbled through the hall and lit the thick carpet on fire. In the wake of the destruction, the ship's sprinkler system switched on and water started pouring down on the two remaining people.

"Smooth Parker," Raynor said, turning to the Marine, "Really smooth."

"What?! How was I supposed to know he'd explode?!" Parker defended.


	33. Chapter 33

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 33: The New Setup**

"So, what have you found out?" Jim asked as he, Raynor and Katsuragi entered the _Shogoki_'s medical bay.

"Well, its Zerg for sure," Ayanami answered, standing from where she was feeding Fluffy the Ursadon and walking over to the examination bench where the charred remains of the green Zerg blob was piled.

"That's great," Raynor said, "Can you tell us something new?"

"Yes. It seems that besides rudimentary movement muscles it is entirely composed of the same material found in cerebrates, meaning telepathic transmission nerves," she explained.

"A transmitter," Katsuragi breathed, "Jesus Raynor they know we're here."

"God damnit," Jim muttered, balling his fists in quiet anger.

"Now hold on just a minute," Raynor said, "Let's think about this. They know that the _Hyperion_'s here, they don't know you are."

"So what, you're just gonna up and leave to solve the problem?" Jim asked.

"Well," Raynor turned to Ayanami, "Miss, do you know if its still transmitting a signal to the rest of the Swarm?"

"It's totally burnt to a crisp and dead on my bench. My guess is no, but then again I'm not an expert at Zerg biology," she replied.

"If it makes you feel better darlin', no body is," he replied with an almost fatherly smile.

"So what's your plan?" Katsuragi asked.

Raynor thought for a minute, cross checking everything in his head to make sure it would work before speaking.

"I'm going to take the _Hyperion_ into orbit and wait until the Zerg get here, then I'll make a big show of warp jumping out of the system from where they can see me. Hopefully they'll follow and you can continue your break here," he explained.

"That doesn't seem right!" Katsuragi objected.

"Just make sure you take that Ghost with you," Jim said flatly, "Last thing I need to deal with is a Zerg rush up my ass because of him sending off psionic voodoo signals like a cosmic fly light."

Behind Raynor, Jim could see Ayanami's face sadden. He had seen her talking to Kahn and taking walks with him through the Protoss ruins and knew she liked him. It would probably be depressing for him to be gone all of the sudden. He made a note to talk with her about it, as there was no sense in having one of his team mopping around with a death wish in a combat situation.

Then Katsuragi's protests cut in to his thoughts. "Are you kidding me? He's about to leave and take half of our combined firepower away and you're okay with that?" she asked, incredulous.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" both he and Raynor said in unison, then looked at each other in surprise.

"Look captain," Raynor said, "I'll leave my remaining infantry, three Vultures, two Wraiths and their pilots as well as the dropship with you. It'll just be me, Kahn, this burnt piece of meldew and the _Hyperion_ itself. Okay?"

Katsuragi thought for a second and Jim cut in.

"Why not take them? Won't you kind of need them if you run into trouble with the Dominion?" he asked.

"I got a hold of Matt the other day. He's-"

"Say no more," Jim interrupted, thinking of the extremely determined and resourceful second in command of the _Hyperion_, "Say no more."

"Why say no more?" Katsuragi asked.

Jim smiled contently, "Because knowing Commander Horner, he already has a full complement of replacement troops recruited, jacked up and good to go. Am I right?"

"Pretty much. He gave me coordinates to meet up with him ASAP. That's where I'll be headed," Raynor said, "As for you-"

"Don't worry, we'll be in touch," Jim cut him off.

"So you both have a plan I'm guessing?" Katsuragi asked, not liking how she'd been cut out of the loop.

"Yep, we've been discussing it for a few days," Jim told her.

"Oh, how nice of you to finally see fit to include me in your brainstorming," she smarted.

Raynor faked a hurt look on his face, "Oh come on now darlin' don't be so short with us."

"Don't fucking call me darlin'. Its irritating," she demanded with a stomp of her foot.

"Whatever," Jim said, eager to move on, "We decided that it would be harder for Mengsk to track us if we weren't part of the same fleet. Or even the same rebel group. So-"

"You guy's will be splitting off and forming your own group with this vessel as your flagship. That way-" Raynor said.

"Our two groups can work separately on different problems and not cause suspicion amongst the enemy," Jim finished.

Katsuragi stood in silence for a second, mulling the idea over in her head carefully. Finally, she came to a decision.

"As insane as that appears on the surface, it makes sense. I, and the _Shogoki _herself, am in," she said and stuck out her hand.

Jim shook it, followed by Raynor.

"Well now that that's settled," Jim said, "Let's go divide the shit."

"Good idea," Raynor agreed.

As the two men started to leave the medical bay, Raynor with a box containing the remains of the Zerg parasite, Katsuragi hurried after them shouting, "What's the shit?!"


	34. Chapter 34

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 34: Splitting of the Breast**

"So what does this shit do, exactly?" Katsuragi asked as Jim and Raynor took the lid off of the Relay Disrupter container, revealing the clear nano-agent filled liquid inside.

"It kills Zerg," Jim replied bluntly as he carefully helped set the lid aside on a table.

"How?" she pressed.

Raynor sighed. "You inject this stuff into the Queen and it causes the entire Swarm to de-evolve into a bumbling mess of unworkable shit. In short: it kills Zerg," he explained.

"Got it now?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "Now what are you guys doing with it?"

The two men ignored her as they picked up the container and poured the liquid into another container that looked like it had been a fuel drum in its previous life. Now it was painted pure white and had reflective sterile foil covering the inside to perfectly preserve the nano-agents needed for the disrupter to work properly.

They stopped after a moment and sat the original rectangular container down, now only filled halfway to the brim. Jim checked the inside of the drum and, satisfied, closed the lid down over it. The lid made a magnetic sucking noise as it sealed itself completely, keeping the important chemical within untainted by any outside influence.

On the top of the lid it was marked 'Liquid of Death: DO NOT DRINK!' with a skull and crossbones drawn below the warning.

Jim stood back and motioned to two marines standing nearby to pick up the container and carry it out to the _Shogoki_. They complied and soon Raynor, Katsuragi and Jim were alone in the storage room again.

"Anything else, Jim?" Raynor asked.

"Not that I can think of, Marshal. Katsuragi?" Jim answered.

"Nothing here," she said, "Though I can't thank you enough for what you've already given."

"That's all I can do," Raynor replied.

Katsuragi shook his hand and left, heading back to her own ship and leaving Jim and Raynor alone. A moment of silence passed between the two men, before Jim broke it.

"You know, after Tarsonis everything happened so fast that I didn't even have time to move my footlocker from my old barracks area to my new cabin. I need to go get it and take it back to the _Shogoki_," he said and turned to leave.

"Jim," Raynor said quietly but sternly enough for Jim to stop dead in his tracks.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You always have to remember something. You're going to be leading the show over there. Katsuragi's a strong captain, and she'll be able to walk you through a hundred ship-to-ship problems easily. She didn't survive Earth's defeat here because she's a bad naval tactician. But the ground stuff and the overall picture, that'll have to be your job," Raynor said, "You are their leader now, Jim, that's a pretty big responsibility. And no matter what you can't show weakness to anyone, and trust me you will feel weakness.

"You just have to hold it together all the time, bottle all the pain and weakness and anxiety up as long as possible so that when you're faced with an enemy you can unleash it all and just steam roll his ass into the ground. When I started out in command of the Raiders, I didn't have anybody to give me advice and sometimes I sure as to hell wished that I had. Well, I'm giving you some advice right now: think real hard before you do something drastic. Don't act on personal feelings alone. I did, and look what happened," Raynor said, looking away from him.

"I remember," Jim said, thinking about the first time they went to Char, "I was there with you."

Raynor laughed a bit, "Yeah, yeah you were."

Jim turned to leave; "I'll see you around, Marshal."

"Yeah, see you Jim," Raynor replied.

Then the door to the storage room slid shut behind Jim and he walked away towards his old barracks room, intent on getting his footlocker and getting the hell off of the _Hyperion_. He had his own ship to command.

The next morning, the roar of the _Hyperion_'s engines rolled across the jungle as it took off and headed straight for orbit. Standing on top of the _Shogoki_, Ayanami was wiping her eyes to keep from crying. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Jim, clad in a leather jacket that he had recovered from his footlocker.

"Ayanami, I'm sorry he had to go. But the last thing we need is to be attacked right when we're getting everything together," he said.

She collapsed onto his shoulder, crying and gripping his jacket. Jim stood stock still and put a hand on her back to support her as she let it all out, all the while keeping his eyes on the _Hyperion _as it climbed into the morning sky. The ship's afterburners kicked on and sent a sonic boom rocketing down from that great height, giving it the extra boost needed to propel it into the exosphere.

As the boom echoed away, so did the sound of Ayanami's crying. She stood back from Jim and wiped her eyes with a shaking hand.

"Thank you sir," she said, meeting his gaze.

"That's okay private," he said, then thinking that was to cold added, "I'm sure you two will get to see each other again."

She nodded silently and brushed passed him for the lift to the interior of the ship. Jim didn't follow, instead electing to sit down on the edge of the ship and look at the ground many feet below him. He resisted the urge to hack a glob of phlegm on sergeant Aoba's head as the marine stood below with his team, inspecting the landing struts for what seemed like the 80th time that day.

Instead, he turned on his COM link.

"Sergeant Aoba, this is Major Goss. Find something better to do with your time, over."

"Like what sir?"

"Check the perimeter of the LZ."

"For how long sir?"

"Until I tell you not to, how's that?"

Silence.

"I said how's that, trooper?"

"That's fine sir, just fine."

As the COM link closed, Jim leaned back and rested on his palms, staring up at the morning sky and breathing in the fresh air.


	35. Chapter 35

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 35: Traz's Brood**

Traz stood on what could roughly be considered the bridge of his moon-sized transport creature. As an infested human, his mind automatically assigned familiar terms to certain things so that he could relate to them easier, the bridge being an example. For though it had no screens or windows or crew for that matter it was nonetheless a certain space within the transport that he stood to command the operations of his Brood.

His Brood.

Kerrigan had given it to him along with the assignment to destroy Raynor and retrieve the Relay Disrupter on Aiur, a mission he was determined to carry out. First he had morphed together this giant transport in orbit around Tarsonis, overseeing every aspect of its design including areas where he could launch defense Mutalisks incase he ran into any space-born problems.

Then he had moved his entire Brood onboard with Overlords, afterwards packing the Overlords themselves in among the fleshy creep-covered corridors of the transport. Throughout this entire process, he hadn't been the only one keeping an eye on things. From time to time, the Queen of Blades herself would pop in unannounced and check up on him, making sure he was packing units properly or grouping them in the right defensive positions to deal with a boarding by hostile forces.

Finally growing tired of her second guessing and correcting him constantly, he had told her that he could handle it on his own and that he would bring both Raynor's head and the Disrupter back to her if she just let him do it his own way. A second after he said it, he came to his senses and realized that he was a dead man.

Instead of carving him apart with her bodily blades, she instead simply smiled and said; "Great pomposity is what ultimately undid those who inhabited the world you seek."

And she left it at that, turning from him and leaving his transport bound for the surface again. That was three hours ago and even as he prepared his Brood for the warp jump to Aiur Traz didn't know what the hell she had meant. Shrugging, he moved the transport toward the warp hole open in front of it. Soundlessly in the vacuum of space, the transport slid into the hole and vanished, the portal collapsing behind it.

In orbit around Aiur, going about it for the six hundredth time, Raynor felt like going to sleep. It was just Kahn and he on the _Hyperion_'s bridge as they waited for the Zerg. The planet turned below them and the view screens displayed the live feed of it, a hypnotic slow moving motion that made both of the men very, very tired.

Raynor felt himself nodding off when the alarm sounded.

"Kahn report," he ordered, coming instantly awake.

"Target, just outside our Yamato range. Sensors indicate it is Zerg," Kahn answered.

Raynor peered at the screen just as Kahn switched the image to the rear cameras at high magnification. The Zerg vessel was roughly the size of a small moon and Raynor could see small specks moving about it.

"What are those things?" he asked Kahn, pointing at the specks.

"Mutalisks, sir," Kahn replied, his voice calm and cold.

"Wait till they're within range and execute the jump," Raynor ordered, then switched the camera to a connection with the _Shogoki_ on the surface.

The screen flickered and revealed the face of Captain Katsuragi as she stood on the bridge of the former UED ship. Raynor heard her first officer, Hyuga, say something about the main screen and she looked up from her book to see Raynor.

"Yes Raynor?" she asked, setting the book to the side.

"The Zerg are here, figured I'd notify you before we got the hell out of Dodge," he said.

"Thanks," she said, "I'll tell Jim, he'll probably want to get some patrols together just incase they decide to make a landing."

"Okay darlin'. Raynor out," he said.

"Don't fu-" the screen reverted back to the image of the closing Mutalisks.

"Careful," Traz warned his Mutalisks, "Don't bunch up. His missile turrets would love that."

Watching carefully, he saw that the Mutalisks were almost in range of the _Hyperion_, their positions arrayed so that the glave worms would be spread for maximum damage to the weapon systems and engines of the ship. After that, he'd have them dead in the water and ready for a boarding action where he himself could slice Raynor's head from his body and impale it upon one of his back spines.

It was to be a glorious day indeed, but then a warp hole appeared in front of the _Hyperion_, which it then entered.

"Fuck!" Traz slammed his fist down on a lump of creep nearby, "Follow it!"

The Mutalisks sped up to try and reach the hole, but only one made it before it closed. Unfortunately, the determined Mutalisk only had the front half of its body through the warp hole, causing the collapse and sheer off the back half of its total body. The giant hole vanished, leaving Traz's Brood transport vessel and his attacking Mutalisks behind.

Traz stood for a minute, his balled fists shaking in quiet fury. He tried with all of his strength to not blow up, but in the end failed.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! God damnit! Fuck! Shit! Piss! FUCK!" he screamed, kicking the organic walls around him with the toe of his infested foot.

Then he stopped. Something, he felt something down on the surface. It was the same feeling he'd had when he shot Dr. Tanner in the bunker and fought with Asuka in hand-to-hand. The Disrupter was on the planet!

_Very smart, Raynor, _he grinned as he prepared his troops, _Very smart._


	36. Chapter 36

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 36: Battle at Aiur**

"Check the perimeter sergeant Aoba, check the landing gear sergeant Aoba, check your corn hole sergeant Aoba," Aoba grumbled in mocking of Jim as he patrolled the edge of the clearing with the rest of his squad of UED marines.

"What was that, sir?" asked Private Yanskev from where he stood next to Aoba.

"Ah nothing. Just that Goss promoting himself to Major and taking control over the ship. Plus the fact that Captain Katsuragi's okay with it is ju-" suddenly Aoba was yanked out of his rant by the sound of Yanskev screaming and blood spraying all over his face.

Turning, he saw the power armored Private held up in the air by a Hydralisk's left scythe arm. Before the Russian marine could scream again, however, the Hydralisk stabbed him in the forehead with the other scythe. Tossing the bulky dead body aside like so much raw meat, the Hydralisk turned to Aoba with its chest opening and acid spikes ready to fire.

Hollering, Aoba squeezed and held down the trigger on his Impaler. A steady stream of spikes smacked into the Hydralisk's front, imbedding themselves around and sometimes right on top of the acid spikes in the creature's chest. The Hydralisk groaned and started to fall. On its way down a Zergling used its back as a springboard to launch itself at Aoba.

The smaller type of Zerg landed on the UED sergeant's chest and burrowed into his face, greedily clawing, biting and slashing its way into his brain.

On the bridge, Hyuga spun around in his chair.

"Ma'am! We just lost vitals to Aoba and Yanskev!" he shouted, barely containing his panic, "And our sensors indicate Zerg have breached the perimeter defense line!"

"Shit," she said, turning to Jim, "They're coming here."

"You honestly think I don't know that?" he said, picking up his rifle and turning on his earbud COM link.

He walked out of the bridge at a brisk pace, heading for his quarters. "McCabe, can you hear me?" he asked into the headset.

"Yeah, I'm in the armory listening to Jax talk about how the Ursadon morphed into a Probe while he was knocked out," Nick said, then added, "Help me."

"Get your shit together, Zerg are inbound on us right now. Get ready for a fight," Jim ordered, passing the Wraith pilot named Maverick in the corridor.

"Roger that," Nick replied, and in the background Jim could hear the clattering of armor before he cut the line.

"Hey Maverick!" he shouted, saw the pilot turn around, then said, "Get to your Wraith. Zerg are coming."

The pilot jumped into action and headed for the launch bay. Jim continued on his way, climbing up a ladder to the next deck where he poked his head into the medical bay for just long enough to tell Ayanami to get jacked up and outside. She replied with a quick nod and Jim continued to his quarters. He opened the door and stepped into his armor, the suit automatically starting to fold up around him.

Outside, Nick popped his head above the sandbag wall that they'd erected around the ship just long enough to throw a D18 charge onto a Defiler's side as it ran along the battlefield sideways. The charge stuck, beeped twice, and blew the Defiler into bloody bits that shot out in all directions. Zerglings jumped over the dead Defiler's corpse and came shrieking directly toward the defense line.

Jax, who was crouching right next to Nick, stood and fired a grenade from the launcher attached to the bottom of his Impaler. The grenade took out seven of the little aliens but actually helped propel one of them through the air and straight toward Jax. Before the Zergling hit him, however, a psi-blade stabbed it in the gut.

Nanius retracted the blade back into his gauntlet, allowing the Zergling to fall down to where he could grasp it around the throat. Then he threw it one-handed through the air where Jax blew it apart with his Impaler.

"Nice save," Jax said.

"Excellent shot," Nanius countered, stabbing another of the runts that had gotten to close to the defense line.

A Wraith soared over the top of the parked Battlecruiser, banking left even as its wingman appeared directly behind it. The two flyers swept low over the ground, firing missiles and laser blasts into the Zerg as they emerged from the jungle. A group of Hydralisks where blown to bits and an Ultralisk fell under upwards of sixty blasts from the Wraiths' laser cannons.

Nick fired a volley out of his duel scythe pistols and knocked three Zerglings down and sent a Hydralisk stumbling off balance right into the path of a grenade. The creature opened its mouth in surprise and swallowed the grenade, choking for only a moment before its throat ruptured from the explosion. Blood spread across the other Zerg that rushed by, intent on dismembering the Terran defenders.

Jax ducked down to reload and noticed something wrong. "Where's Jeffy!?" he shouted in terror at the thought that the Probe was scrap metal being chewed apart by some Zerg.

"He's right here!" Jim shouted over the shrieks of the Zerg attackers, walking out from the ship calmly shooting over the defender's heads with his own Impaler.

Behind Jim, Jax spotted Jeffy with a gray-colored crate in his grav field marked 'Spider Mines: Handle With Care' on the side.

"What're you gonna do with those?" Jax asked him.

Jim ignored him, telling Jeffy to go up next to Nick. "Hey McCabe," he said, "Think you can throw these for a while?"

Nick stopped firing and turned to look at the open case of shiny metal automatic landmines. He nodded with a sick smile on his face, picking up one of the mines and hefting its weight. At being touched, the mine reflexively started moving its legs and looked like an overturned beetle in the Reaper's hand. Then he threw it, sending it hurtling through the air and onto the ground in the middle of the Zerg wave.

It righted itself, computed its surroundings in a nano-second, and then charged a Hydralisk. The mine blew up, taking the targeted Hydralisk as well as twelve other Zerg surrounding it out in a flaming ball of destruction. Jeffy giggled at the results as Nick picked another Spider Mine up out of the crate, armed it, and side armed it into the advancing Zerg.

This one seemed very determined as it killed seven Hydralisks and blew the leg off of an Ultralisk. The massive tusked creature moaned demonically in pain and face-planted into the ground, the spines along its back waving back and forth like disturbed seaweed. Jim and Jax focused their fire, as did another three marines on the wounded Ultralisk, killing it with five grenades to the face in no time at all.

Nanius jumped in front of Jim and took a full blast of acid spikes in his chest shields. The shields dropped and he dived out of the way, allowing Jim to blow the Hydralisk that had fired the spikes onto the ground. Jim turned and helped him up, not a big trouble in the power armor he was wearing. Nanius stood and gave Jim a curt nod, which he returned.

In the background, a Spider Mine went off and Zerg body parts flew through the air. Jim turned and noticed that most all of the Zerg were dead, save a few wounded that were still trying to crawl at the marines.

"Oh yeah!" shouted a marine named Mozenhart as he climbed up over the sandbag wall and onto the field.

"Mozenhart what the hell are you doing?" asked Joker, another marine behind the bags.

"Man we kicked their asses! I mean we really kicked their asses!" he shouted back to the men still behind the sandbag defense wall.

Mozenhart stopped and shot a wounded Zergling in the head with his Impaler at point blank range, causing him to laugh even harder than before.

"We got this man!" he said, "We got this by the ass!"

Suddenly a group of green-colored Zerg rolled out of the tree line right for the ship.

"What the hell are those?" Mozenhart asked, looking back to his comrades.

"Banelings!" shouted Private Parker, turning tail and running right back to the safety of the ship.

Mozenhart turned back around just in time to see one of the puffy, bloated Zergling variants hit him in the crotch and explode. Bloodied armor pieces and bits of fleshy goo were all that remained of Mozenhart as the Banelings continued on unabated toward the defense line.

"Fall back! Fall back now!" Jim ordered, firing his Impaler as he backed up toward the entrance ramp.

Nick threw another Spider Mine and didn't even bother to see where it landed as he grabbed Jeffy and jump jetted for the ship. Private Rengazi tripped over a rock before he could reach the ramp and was mobbed by the explosive creatures, disappearing with a scream beneath the rolling wave of green monstrosities.


	37. Chapter 37

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 37: Controversial Tactics**

"Katsuragi hit the fucking gas!" Jim shouted into his mouthpiece over the banging of the Zerg outside exploding against the hull, "We've got Banelings up the ass!"

"Roger that," she replied in his ear.

Then Jim, Nick, Jax, Nanius and the marines around them hit the ground, a result of a dramatic change of elevation the corridor experienced. Stumbling to his feet, Jim realized what had happened.

"They took out one of the landing struts!" he shouted both in anger and so that anyone could hear him over the banging.

"I'm fully aware of that, Jim," Katsuragi said calmly over the COM link.

"I wasn't talking to you!" he shouted at her.

"Grab on to something," she said.

Before Jim could even relay her warning to the rest of the group, the _Shogoki_ lurched forward and up, propelled by its engines. In the wake of the engines' discharge, a hundred or so Banelings detonated spontaneously from the sonic boom and covered the jungle clearing with blood. The ship, however, didn't take off properly due to the loss of a landing strut and instead cut into the jungle.

Trees slapped against the camera lenses streaming to the view screens around the bridge and Katsuragi shouted at Hyuga. "Pull up! Pull up before we hit something important!" she ordered.

Too late.

Hyuga pulled up but did manage to take the top off of a very ancient and decoratively engraved Protoss structure. Stone debris toppled down the sides of the structure and crashed to the jungle floor, causing the low level of water at the ground to ripple and splash. The _Shogoki_ corrected its course and aimed its nose skyward.

"Captain, was that an important structure?" Hyuga asked over his shoulder.

"Depends, did it damage us?" she asked.

Hyuga checked his displays before replying. "No it didn't damage us," he answered.

"Then no," she clarified and sat back in her seat.

The ship's intercom crackled to life and Jim's voice filtered in over the speakers. "Katsuragi, how's our life span looking?" he asked.

"Not so hot," she replied, looking at the main screen as it changed from blue sky to the blackness of space.

"Explain," Jim demanded.

"Well you are familiar with the concept behind a Zerg space transport, right?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, "Is that what we're dealing with?"

"Yep, that and the three hundred Mutalisks it just launched at us," she replied.

Back in the entrance hallway, Jim gave rapid-fire orders. "Katsuragi, tell Maverick and Meatloaf to hold off those Mutalisks. Use your missile turrets, plasma torpedoes, whatever. Just keep them off of us and get into position above that transport. When you're in position let me know," he said and turned to Nick, "Come with me."

"Uh-huh," Nick replied and began to follow him down the narrow corridors of the ship.

Two ladders and a few right turns later they were in the storage bay. Jim started rummaging through the supplies stocked all around them and pulled out a two-by-two magnet, which he promptly stuck to Nick's chest. At this, of course, Nick couldn't help but question Jim's sanity.

"Just what are you planning on doing?" he asked.

"You and I are going on that Zerg transport," Jim replied.

He walked over to a locked closet and busted the padlock off with the butt of his Impaler. Yanking the door open, he pulled out a container roughly the size of a cooler and sat it on the ground. Jim popped the seal on the lid and opened it just as the sound of a Mutalisk smacking into the hull reverberated through the room.

Nick leaned over and looked down into the box to see that it did in fact contain a small nuclear bomb.

"This is absolutely insane," he muttered.

"Well if you don't want to do it then give me your damn armor. All I need you for anyway is the jump over," Jim snapped.

"No, no I'll do it. I just felt like pointing out how insane this is. I never said I didn't like doing insane things," Nick explained.

Jim sealed the lid on the nuke case and made sure it was locked down tight before picking it up and handing it to Nick. The Reaper took the case and followed Jim out of the storage room and down one more floor to the waste disposal airlock. On the way down, Jim started talking to Katsuragi.

"Listen, get Flyboy in his damn dropship. We'll need him to pick us up on my signal," Jim told her over the COM link.

"Okay fine but where the hell are you going?" she asked.

"The Zerg ship," he replied simply.

"What?! Have you lost all your mar-"

Jim cut the feed, then turned to Nick, "I think she got the picture."

"I'd say so," Nick agreed.

By that time they were standing in the airlock. Jim took the nuke from Nick and looked around for something to use to secure it to himself. He nodded to himself and walked over to a case on the wall marked 'Fire Hose'. Jim bashed it open and took out a length of hose, which he then cut off and used to tie the nuke onto his right leg.

Wobbling, he backed up into Nick's chest, his back sealing to the big magnet with a dull thump.

"This…" Nick searched for the right words, "Is awkward."

"Shut up," Jim retorted quickly, then turned on his COM link, "We in position yet Katsuragi?"

On the other end he could hear a terrific sigh and reasoned correctly that the purple-haired Captain had resigned herself to this crazy plan. "Yes Jim, we are," she replied.

"Good," Jim said.

He slid his gold-tinted visor down into place over his face and heard the magnetic seal whiz as it contained the air inside the suit. Then a beep sounded inside his helmet, showing that all possible leaks were sealed.

"You okay back there?" Jim asked over the proximity COM.

He saw Nick's glove form a thumb's up next to his head and nodded to the Reaper, sure he would notice the motion.

"Katsuragi," Jim said, readying his Impaler in both hands, "Pop the door."

The airlock opened and the joined two were sucked out into the silent vacuum.


	38. Chapter 38

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 38: Army of Two**

A Mutalisk flew past Jim and Nick only fifteen feet away from them, a homing missile hot on its tail. Jim didn't dare fire at in not because the missile had the situation under control, but because he didn't want the recoil to hurl them off into space to never be heard from again. Suffocating when his oxygen tank ran out in the middle of a cold dark vacuum wasn't exactly the way Jim wanted to go out.

"Uh," he heard Nick say over the proximity COM, "Where should we hit it?"

Jim looked down and scanned the lumpy surface of the transport. After a second he saw a small orifice-like area open, allowing a Mutalisk to fly out. Slowly, the door closed behind it.

"There," Jim said, pointing at the area he'd spotted.

Nick didn't respond and instead gunned his jumpjets toward the spot. They rocketed between two Mutalisks just before a laser blast tore through both the creatures and sent them off course into the side of the _Shogoki_. When they were within range, Jim held his rifle out straight making sure that the recoil would be directly into his six o'clock and do no more than slow them.

He fired and the rounds hit the closed orifice door, irritating it enough to open and allow them in. Instantly, the gravity provided by the ship hit them and they collapsed to the ground. Jim placed his boot on Nick's knee and pushed himself up off of the determined force of the magnet attached to his teammate's chest.

He turned and helped Nick up before untying the nuke from his leg, casually tossing the fire hose off to the side in the process. Jim looked around and noted that every surface was covered with creep and didn't dare open his visor, not really wanting to smell it at the moment.

"Do I need to keep this magnet on?" Nick asked, irritated at how it stuck out of his chest.

"Yeah," Jim replied.

Before Nick could ask why Jim had slammed the nuke case one-handed into the magnet, which was only happy to hold it in place.

"Next time-" Nick started but was cut off by a loud shrieking Mutalisk that slashed through the air above his head and out the orifice behind them.

"Center of the ship," Jim said, "Now."

The two men started off down the corridors, checking corners but not being overly stealthy about it since time was a luxury they couldn't afford. Jim poked his head around a corner and spotted a group of five Zerglings hopping around in a huddle and it looked like they were eating something. With no time to sneak past, both the Terran soldiers jumped out of cover and aimed their weapons at the Zerglings.

Before they could fire, however, a Hydralisk popped out of the ceiling creep and thrusted its upper body toward them. Jim and Nick both jumped back a step, avoiding the creature's scythe arms just in time, their tips coming mere inches from hitting Jim's face. They both fired their weapons of choice as fast as possible and turned the Hydralisk into what looked like a bloody light fixture hanging from the ceiling.

The original five Zerglings spun around at the sound of weapons fire and began their run down the corridor. Jim fired a grenade out of his Impaler that blew up against the first Zergling's face, engulfing the others around it in the ensuing fireball and hot shrapnel.

"Clear," Jim said, stepping over the remains of the Zerg and moving on toward the center of the transport.

Nick didn't reply as he followed close behind. The two moved at a brisk pace down two more slimy corridors before they came to a closed orifice. Without hesitating Jim put a double tap into it, driving the obstacle open in irritation. On the other side contained a long tubular hallway. Dotting the ceiling, floor and walls were what looked like fleshy pods.

The sides of the pods were semi-transparent and through them the two Terran could see movement, spines and jaws and tails writhing within.

"Let's find another way around to the center," Nick suggested quietly.

He wasn't sure why, but something about the pods made him want to whisper.

"No, there's no time," Jim countered.

"How do you know?" Nick asked.

"I don't," Jim confessed, turning on his radio.

"_Shogoki _here," Katsuragi said into his ear.

"How long before we're out of missiles?" Jim asked bluntly.

"Estimated," she paused for a minute, most likely checking with Hyuga, "Three and a quarter minutes at this rate."

Jim shut off the COM and turned to Nick. "No time," he said and ran off through the pods.

Nick saw the first few Jim had passed opening before he too began to run. He caught up to Jim easily considering that the Marine was pumping rounds into the pods as he ran, causing shrieks from the Zerg within. Sneaking a quick look over his shoulder, Nick caught a glimpse of one of the creatures coming out of the pods.

He only registered a bipedal mess of spines, spikes and mayhem before being forced to look back at where he was running. In front of him, Jim put a trio of rounds into the door at the end of the hall and it opened squishily, allowing the two men to charge through it and into an open area deep inside the transport. Before Nick could do anything else, Jim ripped the nuke off of his chest and stuck it into the creep at their feet.

He popped the lid and entered a five-digit code followed by a countdown for thirty-six hours. Then he started pushing it under the creep as far as it would go, obscuring it from view by any passers by. It still was sticking out a bit, but they had to assume it would be okay.

"Come on, let's get the hell out of here," Jim said and started running back the way they had came.

Right before he shot the orifice leading to the pod-hall, he thought differently about it and looked around for another exit. It was then that he saw something standing at the center of the room. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be an infested Terran. More importantly, an infested Ghost Terran. Even more importantly than that, it happened to be the same Ghost that Jim had shot in the shoulder so many weeks ago in the bunker on Tarsonis.

Searching his memory, Jim found the name that Asuka had given him.

"Hey Traz!" he shouted, "Turn around!"

Traz heard his voice, wondered who could have called it, and turned around just in time to catch an 8mm spike in the gut. He doubled over in pain and clutched at the spike, his back spines curling around his body protectively. Jim tracked him down and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"Fuck!" he shouted in anger, his voice cracking.

"We've gotta move!" Nick shouted and grabbed him by the arm.

"No God damnit wait!" Jim protested, trying to stop the Reaper from pulling him any further.

Unfortunately he was also fiddling with the Impaler in his one free hand and couldn't put up much of a resistance against Nick engaging his jumpjets. The two rocketed down the disgusting halls of the Zerg transport; Nick opening doors with his pistols as they went. Eventually, they found one that led out and jumped it, not waiting to check the seals on their suits.

Without using the magnet, the two floated freely of each other and though they were going extremely fast, Jim felt like things around him were moving slowly. A Mutalisk formation soared below him, crossing the beautiful view of Aiur below. Cloud formations moved gently across the surface of the world and crisscrossed the vast oceans and ruined cities majestically.

And then something big and red filled his view: the top of Flyboy's dropship.

The next thing Jim felt was a dull thud as he hit the top of the dropship headfirst. He looked up, saw that the same thing had happened to Nick and managed to laugh a little bit at the sight before passing out from the trauma to his head.


	39. Chapter 39

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 39: Your Dreadlocks hanging out the Back of My Parachute…**

"He was understaffed, tracked by a parasite, outnumbered, outgunned and you even had the element of surprise. Yet you come back to me without Raynor's head, or the disrupter. And to top it all off you are wounded!" Kerrigan shouted at Traz where they stood outside her primary command Hive on Tarsonis.

Traz stood tall despite the enormous pain in his gut from where Jim had planted another shot in him. "My Queen," he said, "It was not Raynor who attacked and wounded me. It was the crew of another Battlecruiser on Aiur. I believe the boarding party may have consisted of members from the squad that originally acquired the Relay Disrupter in the first place."

"Why do you believe so?" she asked.

"Because one of them called me by name," Traz said remembering vaguely Jim's face from both the incident on the transport as well as the incident in the Confederate bunker.

"Hmm," Kerrigan thought for a second, not breaking her oath to not mind read Traz but instead actually pondering his sincerity.

As she did so, Traz continued to stand at attention, ignoring the pain in his stomach.

"I believe you," she said at last and sat a hand on his stomach.

The flesh automatically sealed up and his insides reordered themselves, easing the pain into nothingness. He sighed despite himself, and caught Kerrigan smiling. Playfully, she began to move her hand down further on his body-

-and then a massive boom sounded from above the Hive cluster, where Traz had docked his massive transport creature. Looking up they caught the tail end of a mushroom cloud just as blood started to rain down from the creature as well as the few creatures he had stored within it. A lump of charred black creep hit Kerrigan on the head, while the remains of a massive antenna landed next to Traz, sending blood all over his side.

Sure he was dead, Traz felt like crawling under a rock. Instead Kerrigan laughed, a deep strong sounding noise and slid her body up into Traz.

"I like the rain," she whispered into his ear.

Not sure how to respond, he quickly stammered, "Me too."

"No Captain, his head's fine. Just a little concussion. Nothing I couldn't fix."

"Jesus you colonists call a concussion a minor thing?"

"Yeah, I used to hit my head on Neo-steel plows all the time back in-"

"Jax, shut up."

Even before opening his eyes Jim knew he was safe back on the _Shogoki_. Snapping them open, he instantly confirmed what he thought he would see. Ayanami, Katsuragi and Jax were standing near the cot he was lying on, talking while Nick sat up on his own cot behind them, out of his armor and drinking a cup of coffee.

"Ayanami," Jim said, his voice a bit raspy as he sat up, "Status on me."

"You've sustained a minor concussion due to hitting the dropship with your head. I've administered the proper amount of painkillers and have re-positioned your brain inside your skull. You'll be fine," she answered.

Jim nodded and turned to Nick, "Your status."

"Same," the Reaper said with a shrug.

Jim looked up at Katsuragi, "Status of the ship and crew."

"Ship's fine, Meatloaf's Wraith was damaged but nothing we can't fix. Everyone survived the space battle and now that you're awake we're ready for our next move," she reported.

"How long have I been out?" Jim asked, rubbing his head.

"Thirty eight hours," Ayanami answered.

Jim exchanged a look with Nick as they both realized what had become of the Zerg transport a couple of hours previous. Standing, Jim took a few steps over to Ayanami's bench and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Where to next?" Katsuragi asked.

"Depends, where are we now?" he replied.

"We executed an emergency warp jump right when you got back on board. After a few hours we exited and found ourselves out in the middle of deep space. Nothing is near us and as far as we can tell nothing will be for a very long time," Katsuragi replied.

"Yeah! It's as desolate as a nuke-blasted hunk of pubic-"

"Shut up, Jax!" everyone shouted in unison.

The redneck shut up and as the rest of the gathered people started to glare at him, Jim mulled over their next plan. He was right in the middle of weighing the choice between Pridewater and Halcyon when Nanius burst into the medical bay.

"Our sensors have picked something up. I think its best that you see it," he said upon entering.

"What is it?" Jim asked, but Nanius was already out the door.

Having no choice, he followed the fast walking Zealot out, setting his coffee cup down on the table near the exit. Walking along the hallway, Jim heard boots behind him and guessed that Katsuragi was following him. With a quick look over his shoulder he confirmed it and continued on his way. He got on the lift and waited for the UED Captain to get on before heading for the bridge.

The door opened and he found Nanius already standing behind Hyuga, looking out the front view port. Jim stepped up next to him and looked out past the bow of the ship to the space beyond. No planets or other things were near them except for one large gleaming gold object about five miles off their front. It had a wide, decorative golden base and a tinted blue glass top that slightly obscured what looked like buildings within.

"What is it, Nanius?" Jim asked.

"That," said the Protoss Zealot, "Is a Mothership."


	40. Chapter 40

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 40: Dogs of War**

Jim stepped out of the boarding craft and onto the golden tiles that served as the floor of the derelict Mothership. He tested the air with a series of deep breaths, making sure it was breathable. He couldn't bring himself to have another one of his soldiers do it and risk death, just as he couldn't tell one of them to be the first man off the craft and into the ship.

He gave the thumbs up to Private Jones, who was the man next in line out of the boarding craft. Jones nodded and jumped off, followed quickly by Nanius, Nick, and Privates Packer and Mac. They all fanned out, standard procedure to prevent an easy, clustered target for any concealed shooters among the dark broad streets around them.

For some reason that Jim couldn't fathom, the Protoss were really fond of too much space in their vessels. A whole city inside of a ship seemed a bit…unneeded in his opinion.

"Okay Nanius," Jim said, "You're our tour guide for the moment. Where's the power source so we can get some lights on."

"And some damn heat," Packer commented, seeing his breath in the light of his helmet lamp.

"Right this way," Nanius replied and started through the streets.

As they walked through the broad avenues, Nanius began to talk about the Mothership.

"Back during the Golden Age of Exploration, ships like these were used often to explore the bounds of Protoss space. After the age was over, my people chose to leave them in place as monuments to that great time in our history."

"Hey Nanius?" Jim asked.

"Yes Major?"

"Does the ship have weapons?"

"Yes, many weapons."

"Then that's all we should care about. So spare me the history lesson and show me the damn power plant. Okay?"

Nanius decided not to respond and continued walking silently on the point position for the squad. They went on without conversation for a while until Jones broke the silence.

"Hey sir? Do we have a name for our group yet?" he asked.

"No," Jim replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Well we need a name, sir," Mac put in from a few steps behind Jones.

"Every militia has to have a name," Packer agreed from where he brought up the rear of the formation.

"I'm open to suggestions," Jim said, owning up to the fact that he hadn't given a name any thought at all.

"I'm honestly glad that Jax isn't here right now to participate in this conversation," Nick said from next to Jim.

Jim didn't respond and instead kept walking, watching the tall spire-like buildings for any signs of attackers.

"How about, the Shogokians?" suggested Mac.

"What are we? A vid sitcom?" shot Packer.

"Just a suggestion," Mac said quietly.

"How about Dogs of War?" asked Jones.

"What's that from?" Jim asked, "My grandfather used to always quote it and said that it came from old Earth. What is it?"

"Its Shakespeare," Jones answered.

Jim had no idea whom or what Shakespeare was, but was just glad to know where it came from.

"Sounds good," he said, "So we're now officially called the Dogs of War."

"Appropriate," Nick muttered.

"Indeed," put in Nanius from the front of the group.

They continued to walk, with Packer and Mac talking quietly about the new name. Jim didn't hear them, as he had begun thinking about other things. Namely, it began with him debating where to go after they had secured the Mothership, and more pressing what to do with the Mothership once they had it under control.

That was assuming that Nanius could activate the damn thing. Then which planet to go to next? They had to get supplies, that was a must, but in order to do that they needed money. Where the hell would they get money?

Jim was about to do some serious thinking on that when he ran into Nanius, who had stopped suddenly.

"What?" he asked, irritated about the Zealot stopping.

"We have arrived," Nanius replied.


	41. Chapter 41

**Author's Note: I'm very sorry for the long time period between updates, but I've been rather busy with other projects as well as school. If you're reading this after all that time then I thank you for being a dedicated fan and liking this. Anyway, this batch of chapters gets the story moving in yet another direction and introduces yet another enemy. If it seems like I threw the Mothership idea out the window; I didn't. I am very aware that that would be silly and it will be back. Thank you and hey, if you like it tell me what you think. If you don't then tell me that also! Have a good read.**

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 41: Onward Toward Halcyon**

"You're kidding," Jim said, palming his face with his hand.

"No Major," Nanius replied, "I most certainly am not. There is no way for me to activate the power crystal."

"Gay," Nick said and stepped out of the power center.

"Why can't you?" Jim asked.

"It has the equivalent of a psionic lock on it. I simply cannot activate it without the code," Nanius explained.

"Can't you just start going through possibilities?" Jim asked.

At this point, he would take anything that could get the monster of a ship moving and shooting. If Nanius had been human, he might have laughed at this suggestion.

"I would be here for the next three years going through all of the possibilities," he explained.

Jim debated leaving him here and continuing on their way. Then they could pick him up when he finished. He decided against it and picked his Impaler up from where it was leaning against a golden pillar. Checking the magazine, he started for the exit.

"Come on," he said to Nanius, "Let's get back to the ship. We'll mark its position and come back if we ever find a way to get that crystal started."

The boarding team walked back the way they had come through the streets of the Mothership and onto the boarding craft. Once on, everyone strapped themselves in to the seats and Jim stepped back into the cockpit where Flyboy was sitting behind the controls.

"Take us back, Warrant Officer," Jim ordered tiredly.

"Yes sir," Flyboy replied, sealing the doors and disengaging the small craft from the Mothership.

It skirted across the blackness and slid back soundlessly into the _Shogoki_'s launch bay. Docking clamps moved into position and thudded magnetically onto the sides of the boarding craft, holding it in place as the blast doors closed and atmosphere returned to the room around it with a hiss. The exit door's indication light blinked green and Jim popped the seal.

They all stepped out and left the launch bay for individual tasks, each focusing on evading boredom in the coming hours. Jim stopped Nick from proceeding with a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah Major?" he asked.

"Tell the troops we're headed for Halcyon," Jim said.

Nick involuntarily smiled, "Sure thing."

Jim shook his head as the Reaper hurried off down the corridor to talk with Ayanami, Jax and Nanius. Halcyon was a good place to get supplies and new equipment. Unfortunately, it was also a Dominion governed world. Which meant that they would have to lie very, very low as their ship was technically a former United Earth Directorate registered vessel stolen from the Dylarian shipyards during the initial invasion.

Jim pushed past Private's Malcolm and Wallace on his way to the bridge, careful not to touch the ship-to-ship missile they carried in between them. He entered the bridge and saw Katsuragi in her normal position.

"What's with the heavy ordinance Malcolm and Wallace were carrying?" he asked, pulling his suit's helmet component off to scratch his head.

"We're reloading the ship-to-ship defenses. Regardless of orders, I did unload quite a bit into that Zerg transport to try and keep it from launching Mutalisks," she explained.

Jim made note of how she came forward with information that his question didn't even require. He also made note of how she understood her position on the ship. He had no idea about ship-to-ship combat or most kinds of space combat in general. Her job was to handle those situations. If she saw fit to launch missiles at the enemy ship to keep Mutalisks from destroying their hull, that was fine by him.

"What happened on the Mothership?" she asked.

"We found the power source, but Nanius says it's a no-go," Jim said, then let out a sigh.

"Why?" she pressed.

"Psionic combo lock," he said with a shrug, then added, "Can't do it without the code."

"You want me to mark the position and drop a sensor relay?" she asked, guessing his idea.

"If you don't mind. Hell, maybe in time we'll run across a use for a big hunk of immobile Protoss weaponry," he said.

"Anything else you need Major?"

"Yeah, lay in a course for Halcyon."

"Sure thing," she said, "I certainly hope you have a plan for getting through all the Dominion forces on the planet in this ship."

"Don't worry, I do," he lied and headed for the exit.

"Where're you going?" she asked.

"To get a prescription of medical grade alcohol," he said and left.

"I liked it better when that sexy Lieutenant was around," Jax said to Ayanami, Nick and Nanius later in the medical bay, "She was sexy."

"Who?" asked Nanius.

"There was a Ghost with us back on Tarsonis before we even went with you to Braxis," Ayanami explained.

"Named Asuka Soryu," Nick put in, taking a drink out of his flask.

They were all sitting around the examination table in the medical bay playing poker and talking about bullshit. After explaining the game to Nanius it had become pretty casual, except for Jax who took his proclamation to be the Sector's greatest poker player very seriously. Nanius, however, with no mouth to give away thoughts and the ability to read Jax's stupid mind was winning over the redneck.

Nick didn't really give a shit and was simply playing minimum bet the entire time, making sure to break even while Ayanami was half occupied by Fluffy the Ursadon rubbing up against her leg and wanting attention.

"Soryu," Nanius said, thinking, "She was taken by Rynatuel to be trained as a Dark Templar, correct?"

"Yeah that was Asuka," Ayanami agreed.

"Who's Asuka?" asked Jax.

"I'm gonna kill myself, I'm gonna kill myself, I'm gonna kill myself," Nick muttered, irritated by Jax's stupidity.

"_All hands prepare for warp jump_," Katsuragi's voice sounded over the intercom.

A second later, the ship vanished into a warp hole, leaving the derelict Mothership behind.


	42. Chapter 42

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 42: Poker Face**

The _Shogoki _slowly drifted towards the planet Halcyon and toward the entrance to its massive defense grid. Floating in orbit about the planet was a large space platform located above the equator. In its side there were pieces missing that left gaps large enough for Behemoth-class Battlecruisers to get through. Jim guessed they were ringed with scanners to check for anything suspicious inside the ships that passed through.

"Ma'am we are being hailed by the space platform," Hyuga said from his seat.

"Put it-" Katsuragi began.

"No!" Jim interrupted.

Katsuragi spun on him with a glare. "Why the hell not?" she asked, "You want me to just blow through the thing with a Yamato shot?"

"Look at what you're wearing," Jim said, pointing at her uniform.

She looked down and realized that the person hailing them might get alarmed if they saw her in a UED uniform. Sighing in defeat, she left the bridge.

Jim waited until she was out of sight before giving Hyuga the go ahead. The main screen flickered to life and fuzzed a bit as the connection stabilized, revealing an Adjutant.

"Your vessel is registered as a UED Battlecruiser titled _Shogoki_. Please explain," it said quickly and clearly.

"Oh shit," Hyuga muttered.

Jim didn't have to ask to know that something was coming toward them with intent to harm, probably a Dominion Battlecruiser. Keeping his face calm, he recited his story.

"Our vessel was captured from UED survivors and we have intent to sell it," he said, thanking God that the Adjutant couldn't smell a bluff.

Nothing happened for a moment, and then Hyuga let out a deep breath he'd been holding. Jim took that as a good sign.

"Proceed through entrance square 46," the Adjutant stated, "Have a nice day."

"You too," Jim said out of reflex as the screen clicked off.

As the ship moved through the Entrance Square, Jim exited the bridge. Just outside he found Katsuragi leaning against a bulkhead.

"You can go back in there, but I'd suggest you change. Our cover story is that we killed the UED crew and are going to sell the ship," he explained.

"Okay," she said simply, "Where're you going?"

"I'm taking a team down to the planet. We need some supplies," he said and walked off to assemble a landing party.

Thirty minutes later, Jim was walking down a sidewalk in his beaten leather jacket. He had owned the jacket for a long time and it had been a present to him from his parents after he graduated Confederate boot camp. A week later he shipped out for Alpha Squadron and it had been with him ever since. In the past he had never found many places to use it, as it was usually against regulations.

But now that he ran his own ship, he would wear it anytime he damn well felt like it. Currently, he had one thousand dollars inside of his wallet in his right pocket. Ever since he joined up, he had been either in a ship where there was nothing to purchase and on the rare occasion he was on a Terran planet with stores, the owners were either evacuated or eaten by the Zerg.

Needless to say, all the money he had accumulated working over the last decade had worked its way up to occupying a significant portion of his footlocker. All in all it totaled 200,000 dollars. Some of this, he figured, should be invested in supplies for the _Shogoki_. On that note he had divided the landing team into pairs to find certain things.

Ayanami and Jax along with Jeffy the Probe were out trying to find work for the ship in the form of either private military contracts or high-risk delivery of special cargo to questionable buyers. In short, mercenary work or drug running.

Packer and Archie were on food detail, specifically anything in the areas of freeze dry and re-heating dishes. However, the only real requirement was that it was edible.

That left Jim and Nick, who had unanimously decided to check out the weapons department due not so much to the first and second in command needing to be in charge of an important task, but because it was the most fun. Stepping into a weapons shop titled 'Mac's Bang Bangs'; they headed directly up to the counter.

No one else was in the small shop besides a rather big boned woman behind the counter with a hair lip, bad hairdo and a half smoked cigarette in her right hand. Just looking at her Jim knew that she knew her shit, and instantly took a liking to her.

"We're looking for guns," he said bluntly.

"Good choice of shop then," she said.

Jim chuckled a bit and looked at the rack of civilian hunting weapons behind her. He frowned a bit at how there weren't any military grade weapons on it.

"See anything you like?" she asked.

"Are you the Mac of Mac's Bang Bangs?" Jim asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Okay, then I'm going to be straight with you Mac," Jim stated firmly, "I'm looking for guns, not pea shooters."

Instead of taking offense, Mac smiled, revealing rows of nasty yellow teeth and opened the counter door.

"Right this way," she said and indicated the back of the store.


	43. Chapter 43

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 43: Weaponry Upgrades**

Mac led Jim and Nick into a small room at the back of the gun store. As they entered, Jim noticed that each wall was more or less covered with weapons stuck secured in racks. All military grade, he spotted multiple Impalers in different configurations as well as crates of grenades below the weapons.

"Take a look around and tell me if you see anything you like," Mac said, "None of these are officially priced, but we can always haggle on them."

"Okay," Jim replied.

He looked over and saw Nick standing behind Mac. The Reaper mouthed 'should I kill her?' with all sincerity. Jim shook his head rapidly back and forth with a frown, then pretended to not see the disappointment on Nick's face. Continuing on his way, Jim found an AGR-14 Assault Rifle. Picking it up, he pulled back the bolt and ran a finger through the open ejection port, checking for any obstructions.

Instead, he found it cleanly oiled. Mac kept her weapons nice.

The rifle, while good-sized at the moment, would be very small and impossible to wield in his CMC powered armor. However, it would be good in a situation where he didn't have his armor. Besides, he needed something to wear on his back when he was walking around the _Shogoki_. He casually tossed it on a table in the center of the room.

"Hey, check this out," he heard Nick say from across the room.

Turning, he saw his friend holding a Torrent SR-8 shotgun with one hand on the grip and the other on the pump, aiming it at the ceiling while he sighted down the barrel.

"What's it fire, Mac?" Jim asked the woman while gesturing at the shotgun.

"Adamantine slugs. Ranged at 100 meters. Good for cutting through Zergling in small hallways," she said, then muttered, "Good for cutting through _anything_ in small hallways."

"Put it on the table, Nick," Jim said.

Nick tossed it in place next to the AGR-14 and moved to a small plastic bin at the end of the room. Picking it up, he realized it was a collection of military grade combat knives. With a grin, he started sifting through them when suddenly he heard two loud whams. Spinning around, he saw Jim had placed two big green crates on the table and had popped them open.

Reaching in to one of them, he extracted an eight-barreled minigun on a tripod. It had a large ammo container and an automated aiming device, indicating that it was meant to be unmanned. Smiling, Jim sat it back in the case and closed the lid before sliding it and its twin next to the shotgun.

Turning back to the box of knives, Nick sifted through and found three that he liked. He tossed them onto the table with the rest of the weapons, electing a scowl from Jim.

"What?" Nick asked.

"I pick out two automated bullet throwing death machines that can mow through a full division of Zerglings and you put three _knives_ on the table?" Jim asked in astonishment, "Do you really want to get that close to a Zerg?"

"No," Nick replied, "But there are a lot of things you can do with a knife."

"Whatever, you're paying for them," Jim said with finality.

"Sure," Nick said and turned back to the weapons.

Jim shook his head and turned to Mac. "What have you got that can put an injection needle through Zerg carapace?" he asked.

Mac snorted a laugh. "What do you boys want with injecting a Zerg?" she asked.

"We're from," Jim thought for a second, "The zoological society."

"Sure," Mac said with a wink.

Jim watched as she walked into yet another room and came back out carrying a pitch-black case with 'EXPERIMENTAL' stamped across the lid in big red letters. She set it down on the table and popped the latches, allowing the lid to open on its springs. Beneath was a large rifle, easily longer then a C10, with a powerful and bulky looking scope.

"Wow," Jim said, then let out a low whistle.

"BOSUN XFN-96. Accurate up to 2000 meters and has enough force to put a round through the head of an Ultralisk at that range. Fires a 30mm adjustable custom-made shell costing sixty-two dollars a round. Scope capable of infrared, night, and electromagnetic visions as well as chemical detection. Can record video to a small disc drive in the side port. To handle the recoil the user must be either wearing this custom shoulder pad or be equipped with at least light powered armor. Capable of semi-automatic fire through the six round bullpup magazine," Mac said, rolling the statistics out of the corner of her mouth not occupied by a cigarette, "Would you like it bagged or gift wrapped for that special someone?"

Jim responded by closing the case and sliding it up next to the rest of their selected weapons. "How much for the lot?" he asked.

"I thought I was buying the knives?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, well thank BOSUN here," Jim said, gesturing toward the black case, "It put me in a good mood."

"Got you," Nick said just before Mac responded to Jim's question.

"Two hundred for each of the auto-turrets, seventy for the AGR, eighty for the shotgun, and an even four hundred for the XFN. Keep the knives for free, buddy. No one's ever gonna buy those things," she said.

"Sounds good. How about ammo?" Jim asked.

"I can set you up with sixty belts for the auto-turrets, twelve magazines for the AGR, and nine military grade boxes for the shotgun. As for the XFN, I'm sorry to say that I've only got a crate," she said.

"How much is in a crate?" Nick put in.

"Ten rounds," she shrugged, "But that's still damn expensive."

"I'm prepared to pay it," Jim said and looked to Nick, "Tell Joker to get over here in the SCV. We're gonna need it to carry all this shit."

"And one more thing," Mac said and handed Jim two business cards.

One of them had the name of Mac's shop, while the other read Buddy's Chop Shop.

"What's Buddy's Chop Shop?" Jim asked.

"My brother's car dealership. I'll tell him to look out for you and he'll open up his own secret little room. He might have some vehicles for you 'zoologists'," Mac answered with her nasty grin.

"Thanks a lot Mac," Jim said and shook her hand before shelling out the money he owed her.


	44. Chapter 44

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 44: The Jackal**

"Think you guys bought enough stuff?" Joker smart-mouthed.

Jim looked up from where he and Nick were loading a crate with all the weapons they had purchased from Mac's shop. "Joker, shut the hell up," he ordered.

"Yes sir," Joker said, not letting the sarcasm go away no matter what.

"Just pick up the crate and take it back to the ship," Jim said.

Jim and Nick stepped away from the crate, allowing Joker to grip the sides in his SCV's manipulation clamps. Picking it up, he moved down the street toward the spaceport.

Nick turned to Jim. "Where too now?" he asked.

"Buddy's Chop Shop," Jim replied and began walking down the street.

--

"Ma'am, we have a visitor," said Private McLees as he entered the _Shogoki's _bridge.

"Excuse me?" Katsuragi asked as she spun around in her chair, wondering what McLees thought he was doing.

"The Major had us set up a booth outside," he stammered, "For recruits."

"And I suppose you figured that I should interview them," Katsuragi guessed.

"Yes ma'am," McLees said with a rapid nod.

"Okay, send 'em in," she said.

McLees stepped aside and let a woman through into the bridge. She had auburn hair, light peach skin and a smile on her face that made Katsuragi think she was the kind of person who no matter what could find joy.

"And you are?" Katsuragi asked.

"Lance Corporal Mana Kirishima. I've been AWOL from the Dominion military for three weeks now," she said.

"So you want a job?" Katsuragi asked.

"To tell you the truth ma'am, I'll take any way off this rock at this point. I don't have any place else to go but away, and I figured I could work my stay on a mercenary ship," Mana replied.

"Who ever said this is a mercenary ship?" Katsuragi snapped.

To her surprise, the other woman giggled a bit. "Captain, with a name like 'Dogs of War' you can't possibly anything else."

Katsuragi thought for a minute before answering. Finally, she decided that if Jim wanted new recruits he could have them.

"Welcome aboard Corporal," she said dryly, "Make sure you gather your things and talk to Nanius about a place to sleep. When the Major gets back you can talk to him about your actual job aboard."

"Sure thing, but who's Nanius?" she asked.

"He's the only guy walking around in golden armor with no mouth. It shouldn't be too hard to find him," Katsuragi said.

--

Jim and Nick followed Buddy around the side of the Chop Shop to a secondary building. Looking at the sign above the entrance door, Jim read that it was technically called the 'stock vehicle storage' building. Upon entering, however, it suddenly became blatantly apparent that was not the case. Parked along three of the four walls, bumper-to-bumper, were military-grade vehicles.

"Hey Buddy?" Jim said.

"Yes?" asked the suave car dealer.

"We already have a few Vultures, and there's no way I want a Stinger. Those things are death traps. Do you have anything else?" Jim asked.

"Maybe," Buddy replied and hit a button on a control board built into the wall.

The ground rumbled and two doors opened up in the center of the room's floor, allowing a lift to whir to life and elevate a four wheeled vehicle up into view. It had a closed canopy enclosing a one-seat cockpit, wheels on massive suspensions, a sleek and angled body with a turret-like device above and behind the cockpit.

"This is the Jackal, a brand new Dominion fast attack vehicle," Buddy began, "It has four-wheel drive, a flame-thrower targeted from within the one-man cockpit, optional tinted canopy, a top speed of 124 miles per hour and can fit comfortably within a dropship's cargo bay."

"How much?" Jim asked.

"Ten thousand," Buddy said.

"We'll take it," Jim said with finality, "Just give us a moment to go and get the money."

"No problem. I'll meet you back in the main building in, say, an hour?" Buddy asked.

"You got it," Jim said, shook his hand and turned to leave.

Once they were outside the building, Nick whispered to him, "Are we really gonna pay ten thousand for that thing? I know it'd be nice to have, but for that much?"

"We aren't gonna pay ten thousand for it," Jim said, then added, "We're gonna steal it."


	45. Chapter 45

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 45: Grand Theft Auto**

It was dark outside as Buddy locked up the shop and headed home, disappointed that the people interested in the Jackal had never showed up. He quietly hopped into his personal automobile, started it and drove out of the Chop Shop's parking lot toward his home. After his rear lights had faded down the road a decent enough distance, Jim and Nick emerged from their hiding place in an alleyway.

They crossed the street and slid up into place in front of the main showroom building. Jim nodded to Nick, who slid his knife blade into the lock and used his other hand to jam it in and break it, allowing the door to slide open creakily on its hinges. They entered the building and Jim jumped behind the counter, breaking through a small glass cabinet with his elbow.

Nick kicked open Buddy's office door and started going through desk drawers looking for the keys to the Jackal. Jim ran his hands through the assorted junk in the glass display case, looking for anything useful. Eventually he gave up there and broke into the cash register, pulling out bills and stuffing them into his jacket pockets.

"Hey," Nick said as he popped out of the office.

Jim spun around to see him holding up a key chain and held up his own hand. Nick tossed them to Jim, who caught them and in one smooth motion put them in his pocket. Together they ran out of the shop and around to the garage that contained the military-grade vehicles. Nick didn't hesitate to kick this door off its hinges as well.

Half a second later, Jim was reminded of Murphy's law: anything that can go wrong, will. A loud alarm started blaring from inside the building, no doubt alerting the city's police force of their intrusion.

"God damn it McCabe!" Jim shouted as they entered.

"How the hell was I to know that an alarm would go off?" Nick defended.

"Hit the control button!" Jim shouted, changing the subject.

Nick walked over to the control panel on the wall and looked at all the fifteen buttons on it. "Which one is it?" he shouted to Jim.

"I don't know!" Jim shouted back, "Just hit one!"

Nick did, and a giant two-ton metal hook dropped from the ceiling, causing Jim to jump out of the way before it crushed him.

"Jesus!" he yelled in surprise.

"Once again: how was I to kno-"

"Just hit another one, okay?" Jim asked.

"Fine."

Nick hit another button, immediately retracting the giant claw back into the rafters. He hit a third, causing the floor to rumble and produce the Jackal into view. Jim wasted no time in running over to the cockpit and unlocking it before climbing in. Swinging into the seat, he found the ignition switch, hit it and heard the engine rumble to life.

"Where do I sit?" Nick asked.

"Behind the seat," Jim said, indicating a small area reserved for camping supplies and other such cargo.

"Wonderful," Nick muttered and climbed into place.

Suddenly, the alarm stopped, reducing the building to absolute silence.

"Well that's good," Jim said.

"This is the Halcyon city police department! Come out with your hands up!"

"Correction," Nick said, "It's not good."

"I don't want to hear it, not a word," Jim said as he shut the cockpit canopy.

--

"What do you think, Sergeant?" asked one of the policemen in a CMC suit outside the garage, "Should we go in and get them?"

"Nah," said the sergeant, "I think they'll come out peacefully."

Just then, the garage door burst open and the Jackal ramped out into the air. Its front right wheel hit a suited cop in the head; crushing his skull and bursting blood all over the inside of his helmet. The following undercarriage of the Jackal pushed his body into the ground, denting asphalt and bloodying the area around him.

"All units, fire!" the sergeant bellowed to his men.

The rest of the cops hesitated a moment in the wake of the death of their comrade, allowing Jim appropriate time to hose them all with the Jackal's flamethrower turret. The superheated napalm engulfed the men and heated their suits to the point where their flesh boiled, sending them screaming to the ground. The few that had their visors up, however, were spared considerable pain as the flame instantly charred through their faces and seared their brains.

The sergeant, who wasn't wearing the heavy armor, was burned to a crisp faster than anyone else there.

"Wow," Nick said from where he watched behind Jim's seat.

"Yeah, I know," Jim said with a grin.

He hit the accelerator and the Jackal's tires screeched before the vehicle peeled out of the parking lot and down the road toward the spaceport.


	46. Chapter 46

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 46: Inspection**

"First Ayanami and Jax load three tons of illegal material into the cargo bay, and then you augment it with a stolen vehicle. This isn't what I thought going to Halcyon would be like, Jim," Katsuragi said as Jim entered the bridge.

"Break for orbit," Jim ordered, "Now."

"Fine, ignore me. Hyuga are all the crewmembers on board?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am," Hyuga replied.

"Good. Release the docking clamps and head for orbit," she said calmly as she reclined into her command chair.

"I need to talk with the men. Call me if something goes wrong," Jim said and turned to leave.

As the doors exiting the bridge opened, he came face to face with a reddish-brown head of hair and a the smiling face of a good looking girl.

"Hi!" she said in a little to joyful of a voice.

"Yeah," Jim said slowly, "Who are you?"

"I'm Corporal Mana Kirishima. I signed up to become one of your crew and Captain Katsuragi okayed it," she explained.

Jim looked over his shoulder to see Katsuragi smiling broadly. "Thanks," he deadpanned.

"Your welcome," Katsuragi shot back and spun around to look at the main screen again.

Jim sighed and turned back to Mana. "So you're a Dog now, are you?" he asked.

"I believe so sir," she replied.

"Okay, then follow me," he said and pushed his way past her.

Without a word, she did. They walked down the hallway to the only lift in the ship and took it down to C Deck. Stepping off, Jim led her to the medical bay and opened the door to find Ayanami, Nick, Jax and Nanius standing around talking.

"So then the momma Zerg says, 'boy, whatever you do, don't get rid of that cow!'" Jax burst into laughter, not noticing that no one else was laughing along with him, "You get it?"

"That's sergeant Jax," Jim explained to Mana.

"Jax, at no point in your rambling, sorry excuse for a joke did you at any time make any remote sense whatsoever. I did not find it amusing and am in fact debating if you should be allowed to continue breathing," Nick stated firmly.

"That's sergeant McCabe," Jim explained to Mana.

"Do you mean that it was funny?" Jax asked.

"No sergeant," Nanius boomed from where he leaned against a cot, "He did not mean it was funny."

"That's Nanius," Jim explained to Mana.

"Jax, really, just take one of these pills. It'll make you feel better," Ayanami said and handed Jax a bottle.

"Thanks Miss Ayanami!" Jax said, took a pill, and passed out face first on the tile.

"And that's Ayanami," Jim explained to Mana.

"Your team is," Mana searched for the right word, "Interesting."

"Hey new girl, do us all a favor and don't coat your words in niceties. Just come out and say it: we're all completely crazy," Nick advised.

"Okay, you're bat shit crazy, and he's the worst of them," Mana said, pointing to the now snoring form of Jax.

"I like the new girl," Nick said to Jim.

"Yeah!" said Jax, jumping back up to his feet, "Can we keep her?"

"How the hell did you do that?! That dosage was enough to sedate a Rhynadon!" Ayanami exclaimed.

Nick opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the intercom.

"Jim, we've got a problem," Katsuragi stated.

"Get jacked up and cover the entrance doors," Jim told the team, "And mobilize all combat teams. New girl stick with Nanius."

They all replied with quick 'yes sir's and got to work.

--

Jim walked into the bridge to the sight of a graph on the main screen revealing that the _Shogoki_ was being held in place by a stasis field in one of the exit squares in the orbital defense platform.

"Jim, we can take down the stasis field with missiles but it would reveal the fact that we are openly hostile. Currently they're sending a boarding party over to inspect us. Jim, if they find that stuff that Ayanami and Jax brought on-" said Katsuragi.

"Just what the hell did they bring on?" Jim asked.

"They brought on some illegal drugs for us to hustle for a dealer to Mar Sara. That's all they could find in the way of work," she explained.

"Then we'll keep it a secret," Jim said and turned for the door.

"Three tons of hab is kind of hard to conceal in three minutes," she pointed out.

"Watch me," Jim said and left the bridge.


	47. Chapter 47

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 47: Colonel Roth**

"What do we do, sir?" Jones asked from where he stood behind a corner leading up to the main airlock.

"Don't fire unless I tell you to," Jim replied, not only addressing Jones but the rest of the fire team surrounding the corridor, "And stay out of sight. If you're wearing your armor then back the hell up and provide covering fire if it comes to that. Got it?"

"Yes Major," they replied in unison.

"Okay, just don't hit me," he said.

The assembled Marines laughed, taking a bit off their tension and causing them to relax. Jim looked off to his right to see Mana crouched behind a wall, her Impaler held in her gloved hands. She, like most of the troops, wasn't wearing CMC power armor at the moment and had her duty T-shirt sleeves rolled up around her shoulders.

Jim paused for a moment, lost in the muscle undertone to her biceps and the way that the fine beads of sweat glistened off of them. Looking up, he saw her smiling at him in that same joyful innocent way that she had when he first met her on the bridge a few minutes before. Quickly, he snapped himself back into the here and now of the situation.

"Where's Nanius? I told you to stick with him," Jim asked.

"He told me to wait here and cover the door, then he went off that way," she said, jerking a thumb backward over her shoulder.

Jim huffed. He didn't like how the Zealot had abandoned the reception area so close to the boarder's arrival, and he made a mental note to have a talk with Nanius when this little inspection was over.

"McCabe, how's the concealment going?" he asked into his COM link.

"There's no way we can cover all this up," Nick replied, "You're just going to have to deal with it."

"We're, McCabe. We're going to have to deal with it. If they find that hab then you're screwed just as much as the rest of us," Jim countered.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Nick replied.

Jim shut his link off just as the airlock's status lights blinked green and the door-slid open. Eight Dominion marines in light body armor entered, followed by two in CMC armor. They spread out along the walls and let an officer through. Judging by the insignia on his shoulders Jim figured he was a Buck Colonel and by the amount of polish on his boots he most likely had a pride stick up his ass.

The nametag read Roth, and as the man shook Jim's hand their eyes locked with a mutual instant dislike. Roth probably thought Jim was the embodiment of Marine over-promotion and didn't deserve the rank of Major that was written across the nametag on his leather jacket.

"Major Goss," Roth said.

"Colonel Roth," Jim replied, noting how the man's voice sounded to upper class for his taste.

In fact, it sounded like Mengsk.

"Our scans detected something funny in your cargo bay. You wouldn't have anything to hide in there now would you?" Roth asked, a smarmy smile plastered across his face.

Jim felt like shooting it off with the AGR on his back. "No we wouldn't. Would you care to take a look?" he asked, standing aside and directing them in the direction of the cargo bay.

"We'll find our own way, thank you," Roth said and began to draw a pistol from a holster inside of his officer's jacket.

Before he could get it out all of the way, however, Mana popped out from around the corner and fired. Roth flinched and the shot grazed its way across his right eye. He stumbled aside groping for his face, thus avoiding the rest of Mana's burst. One of the two heavily armored Marines moved in front of Roth and took six of Mana's shots in the gut.

The Marine stepped back, injected himself with a stim pack, and then lunged at her. Jim tracked him with his AGR and put one round in his ear, knocking him down into a bulkhead. The heavy CMC power armor dented the steel as the Marine fell to the ground.

"Major duck!" a deep voice boomed from behind Jim.

Jim ducked and Nanius jumped over him onto the chest of the second armored Marine. The two massive figures fell to the floor, Nanius on top and the terrified Dominion Marine on the bottom. Nanius lifted one arm into the air and Jim watched as a psi blade materialized out of it. Nanius then plunged the blade into the Marine's forehead, causing blood to ooze out from around it and fill the Marine's eye sockets.

"Nice of you to show up," Jim said as he got back onto his feet.

"Indeed, I have brought support," Nanius replied.

Jim paused to shoot a wounded boarder in the chest before dodging a knife thrust from another. Nanius stabbed the knife-wielding soldier in the back with a psi blade and lifted him up above his head, then threw him into a side hallway where the other Dogs could rip him apart with a barrage of 8mm spikes. It was then that Jim realized why the other troops hadn't been helping him and Nanius: they were out in a crossfire.

"I can solve the problem," Nanius told Jim as if he could read his mind, "Get on the ground. Now."

With that, Nanius rolled out of the hallway and in the process kicked Jim out as well. Landing on his shoulder, Jim looked back to see the remaining Dominion troops get shredded to pieces by a barrage of .50 caliber bullets. Blood splashed all over the bulkheads and men screamed as hot lead tore into their bodies.

When all of them stopped moving, the firing ceased.

"Clear to step out," Nanius stated and stood out back into the hallway.

Jim leaned out and looked back up the hallway to see that Nanius had set up one of the two auto turrets they had purchased from Mac. Its barrel was still smoking, and both Archie and Higgins were inspecting it with awe.

"Good job, Nanius," Jim said and patted the big Protoss on the back.

"Thank you Major," Nanius replied and stabbed a barely alive marine in the heart.

The marine groaned and died, his hands grabbing at Nanius' gauntlet in the futile hope of dislodging the blade. Looking around, Jim didn't see Roth among the corpses and was about to ask if anyone had seen him go back into the boarding craft when his COM link crackled.

"Jim, though I am amazed at your perfectly honed concealment methods, I was wondering if we should dislodge ourselves from the stasis field with those missiles now," Katsuragi said into his ear.

"Do it," he said, then added, "And don't be so much of a smart ass."

"Roger that," she replied.

--

Katsuragi took off her headset and looked over at Hyuga. "Breach the field," she said.

"Breaching field," he echoed.

The _Shogoki_'s defense missile turrets fired, sending their payloads into the stasis field generator ring that surrounded the ship. The explosions disrupted the field and allowed it to slip free and into the space beyond the space platform's grip.

"Ma'am, Battlecruisers six o'clock high!" Hyuga shouted.

"Status of the warp engines?" she asked.

"Fully charged."

"Course plotted?"

"Aye ma'am."

Katsuragi looked at the view screen at the two Battlecruisers. The massive vessels' Yamato guns were charging, she could see that clearly.

"Hyuga, take us into warp."

The Yamato guns fired.

Hyuga hit punched in the command to jump.

The main screen flashed black.


	48. Chapter 48

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 48: Up to Speed**

"Report!" Katsuragi barked as she woke up on the floor of the bridge.

Hyuga didn't respond, prompting her to shout again.

"I said report!" she shouted.

"Huh? What? Oh, right," Hyuga said as he shook himself awake.

Tapping in a few commands, he brought the main screen back on as well as the navigation computer.

He turned around in his seat to look at Katsuragi. "We are in deep space. Nothing remotely around us," he paused, "Again."

Katsuragi sighed and picked up her headset, switching he mode to intercom.

"Rise and shine everybody. We're back in deep space. Don't worry, the effects of an emergency warp jump will soon wear off," she said and hung it up.

--

Down in the entrance corridor, Nanius helped Jim up to his feet.

"Thanks," Jim said.

"Not a problem, Major," Nanius replied, "Would you like me to get the men together for a briefing?"

"Good call. It's like you read my mind. We'll hold it in the cargo bay," Jim said with a wry smile.

Nanius nodded and moved off to get 1st squad in shape. Jim turned on his COM link to the squad leader's channel.

"McCabe, your squad still in the cargo bay?" he asked.

"What?" Nick replied, his groaning making it apparent he must of hit his head during the passing out phase.

"Is your squad still in the cargo bay?" Jim repeated.

"Yeah, yeah it is," he answered.

"Good. We're holding a briefing there ASAP. Get your shit together and make sure Jax knows he's presenting information on the hab deal," Jim said and exited the channel without waiting for a reply.

"Hey Major!" said a cheerful voice from behind him.

Jim turned slowly to see Mana standing in front of him, beaming despite being knocked out and hurled halfway across the known universe into the middle of nowhere.

"Hey," he replied, rubbing his head.

"Looks like you had a rough transition," she pointed out, shifting the grip on her Impaler to her left hand and reaching to feel his forehead with her right.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"Just checking for a knot," she answered, running her fingers through his hair.

"Well quit it!" he ordered.

She ignored him. "You've got one right there," she said and pushed lightly with her fingers.

Jim flinched at the touch. "Okay Corporal, thank you for figuring that out," he said, "We're gathering in the in the cargo bay for a briefing."

Mana pulled her hand back and put her Impaler back into place within it.

"Sure thing sir," she said.

Jim turned and began walking, Mana close behind. He had an odd feeling about the new recruit. Not anything that mattered to the organization as a whole or was overtly life threatening in any manner, but something that he definitely needed to think about. He put all that aside for the moment and focused on the current problem.

Ayanami and Jax had found a job for them involving three tons of hab and transportation to the ruins of Mar Sara. Other than that he knew nothing about the operation and expected a good explanation out of the two, though in reality he would probably only get an explanation out of Ayanami and some meaningless bullshit out of Jax.

He and Mana entered the cargo bay just after the last member of 1st squad. Looking around, Jim saw that there was no organization whatsoever and that all the crewmembers were milling around talking.

"Line up and take seats on the hab crates! Now!" he barked.

The assembled Dogs instantly fell into position except for Jax and Ayanami, who stayed near the dropship with Jeffy the Probe. Nick and Nanius both leaned up against the Jackal with their arms folded across their chests. Jim crossed the area and took up position next to Nick, Mana soon choosing to sit on the front right tire next to him.

Jim didn't bother to tell her to do otherwise, as he was more interested in what Ayanami and Jax had to say.

"You guys got a presentation?" he asked.

"Yes sir," Ayanami replied while Jax continued to pick his nose.

"Let's hear it," Jim said.

Ayanami stepped aside and Jeffy projected an image up onto the dropship's tail fin. It showed a man in his late forties with bits of gray in his black hair. There was a mean scar running down the side of his face and though his mouth was closed Jim guessed that his lower jaw protruded quite a bit.

"This is Mr. Daniel Golding. He is our employer for this mission," Ayanami explained.

The slide changed to a picture of a lump of hab. It was black in color and formed of a kind of lumpy, gelatin-like substance.

"He wants us to take three tons of this material to a buyer on Mar Sara named Mr. Green for the purposes of the mission," she said, instigating another slide change.

This time it showed the picture of another man. He was totally bald and had spectacles.

"This is Mr. Green. The photo was given to us by Golding so that we could visually identify him," Ayanami said and nodded to Jax

Jax took his finger out of his nose and started passing around copies of the photo to everyone in attendance.

"The transaction is for two million dollars," she said.

"How much are we getting paid for this?" Jim asked.

"Five hundred thousand," Ayanami answered, "But we can't take the cash and run. See, what we're doing is picking up an associate of Mr. Green's in payment. Then we give him to Golding. My guess is that the associate knows either the location of the two million or he knows the password to gain access to a bank account containing the money."

"Smart," Jim muttered, "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Well, the drop off point for the associate was given to me and I gave the coordinates to Captain Katsuragi. And that's all I can think of," she said.

Jax then bumped her aside. "Hey! Anyone want to hear a funny joke?" he asked.

"No Jax!" everyone shouted.

"Oh, okay fine," he said and walked away hurt.


	49. Chapter 49

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 49: New Teams**

When the _Shogoki _finally got back into warp toward Mar Sara, the regular group consisting of Nanius, Nick, Ayanami, Jax and Jeffy reunited in the medical bay for another game of poker and conversation. This time, however, a new person was at the table: the happy new addition to the Dogs of War, Mana Kirishima.

"So, Corporal, why are you here?" Nanius asked over his cards.

"Ayanami invited me," she explained.

"Miss Ayanami!" Jax whined, "Why'd you go and do that? You know I'm nervous around girls!"

"Jax, I'm a girl," Ayanami said, pointing at herself for emphasis.

"Now don't go degrading yourself to that position," Jax said with a shake of his head.

"Why you Confederate redneck sexist-" Ayanami started but was cut off by the door opening.

Jim stood in the doorway, one hand on the frame and the other holding a manila folder. He looked directly at Mana.

"I just finished reading your file. I'm not the Dominion military and I don't give a shit about that incident on Korhal. In my book you're back up to sergeant status. Therefore I'm putting you in charge of the new 3rd squad," Jim then let his eyes wander to everyone in the room as he continued, "I'm sending the new squad arrangements out to everyone's personal comp. Any questions, you talk to me. Got it?"

"Yes sir," everyone replied.

"Good," Jim said and left the doorway.

After he was gone Nick spun back around in his chair and looked to Mana. "What happened on Korhal?" he asked.

"I was a sergeant back then, and my unit was called in to put down a minor rebellion. We did it easily, dispatching all the armed combatants in roughly an hour after touch down. Then my XO ordered us to level the town with demolition charges. The rest of the sergeants did it without thinking. I'm not resocialized so I naturally questioned it. Well, that's not true. I flat out refused to order my troops to do it. So I got demoted to lance corporal," Mana paused, and her happy expression vanished, "They did it anyway and all those people died."

The medical bay was silent for a moment, as no one knew exactly what to say to that. Then the silence was shattered by everyone's personal comp going off at the same time. They all reacted by unclipping the devices from their belts and flipping them open to check the new squad listings. Both Nanius and Nick responded to the message at once, but with totally different opinions.

"Thank Adun," Nanius said, relieved.

"Fuck!" Nick shouted.

"See that Jeffy?" Jax said, showing his comp screen to the Probe, "We get to be with Nick!"

"Fuck!" Nick repeated.

Mana's smile returned to her face instantly at the sight of what she considered to be a hilarious group of coworkers discussing work in the strangest manner possible.

"I suppose that the Major will want me to organize 1st squad as soon as possible," Nanius said as he put down his cards, revealing a hand that would have trumped everyone else in the game.

"But he's in charge of 1st squad, isn't he?" Ayanami asked.

"Indeed he is, on the page. But I'm second in command and something tells me that he's busy at the moment," Nanius replied.

"I guess I need to get 2nd squad in gear too," Nick said and got up to go.

"I'll come with you!" Jax said.

"Fine," Nick muttered and left behind Nanius, with Jax and Jeffy not far behind.

Ayanami and Mana were left alone in the medical bay.

"Well," Mana said, "I'd better go meet my team."

"Hold up a second," Ayanami said.

"What?" Mana asked.

"I saw the way you were looking at Jim when he came in here. Now he's too wrapped up in his work to notice what you're doing, but as one of his friends I'm obligated to let you know something. He has a girlfriend," Ayanami warned her.

"But she hasn't been around in a while, has she?" Mana countered.

"Who told you that?" Ayanami asked.

"No one," Mana replied, genuinely innocent, "The look on his face says everything about him and the main emotion there is loneliness."

"Loneliness comes with leadership," Ayanami pointed out.

"It also ruins lives," Mana said with finality and left the medical bay.

Ayanami debated going after her for a moment, but instead decided that Mana may have had a point there. Maybe Jim did need to accept the fact that if Asuka wasn't back yet, that she never would be. Shrugging, she went back to work.

--

On the bridge, Jim stood with his hands clasped behind his back next to Katsuragi's chair. The screen was blank, as there really was nothing to show while in a warp jump. There was a timer in the lower right hand corner that read 1:06. That was how long they had until they exited the jump and got to Mar Sara.

Jim was born and raised on Mar Sara. At eighteen he left home and joined the Marines. He did so voluntarily and was not a resocialized criminal like Jax. After getting out of boot camp, he was assigned to Duke's Alpha Squadron. When the Zerg invaded Mar Sara, he and a group of three other Marines from the planet took a dropship and tried to save their families.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The Zerg had already came killed his family. He would have most likely been court martialed for what he did, but due to the need for all available troops to fight the Zerg and Protoss, he was spared. Spared by being sent back to the front lines in a squadron that now hated him. Jim wasn't really sure what to expect when he saw his home planet again.

He was sure, however, that he did not expect to see the burnt hunk of dirt covered land that greeted him when the main screen came on.

"Wow," Hyuga said despite himself.

"My God," Katsuragi seconded.

"Snap out of it. We've got a job to do," Jim ordered, "Establish communications with the buyers. I'll get the dropship ready."


	50. Chapter 50

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 50: The Mar Sara Connection**

Jim stepped up the ramp at the back of the dropship in his CMC 300 powered combat suit, Impaler rifle in his right fist and his ballistic battle shield in the left. 1st squad was seated in the dropship on the sides with the full three tons of hab sitting in the middle, boxed up in matte green crates marked 'CAUTION: FRAGILE GLASS'.

Instead of squeezing in alongside the armored boxes, Jim elected to simply sit on top of one. The crate held his bulk, and he sat the Impaler down next to him. He had packed upwards of twenty magazines, each 500 rounds each. He hoped that the deal would go off without any trouble, but if the aerial images they had taken were any indication, Mr. Green had enough firepower and men to put up a decent fight should the need arise.

"Seal the ramp," Jim told Private Labonte, who was the nearest man to the controls.

Labonte leaned over and flipped the toggle switch, causing the ramp to grind back up into place and seal itself. The status light over the ramp blinked green, signaling that the compartment was sealed against the vacuum.

"Okay Flyboy," Jim said over the COM link in his helmet, "Let's rock and roll."

"Roger that Major," replied a twanging blue-collar voice.

Up in the cockpit, Flyboy checked to make sure that he was strapped in good and tight to his flight harness, flipped his aviator goggles down into place and rested his hand on the switch to open the airlock doors. He clicked it and watched as the door in front of the dropship opened up, revealing the blackness of space.

Flyboy hit the throttle and the dropship blasted out into the void. Pulling back on the yoke, he angled the trajectory so that they skimmed across the top of the ship.

"Wow," he muttered.

All across the top of the ship were gouges in the neo-steel plating where glave worms had etched their way along the surface. In some parts there were craters where direct hits from the Mutalisk-born projectiles had hit perfectly.

Off to port he could see the bridge's main view port and within Captain Katsuragi and Lieutenant Hyuga working at the tactics table. Done with taking a look around, he angled the dropship straight for the surface of Mar Sara.

In the troop compartment, Jim felt his stomach jumble around and fought the urge to reflexively laugh from the sensation. Most of the other men didn't and simply let roar with whoops and hollers. All but Nanius, who if he felt the sensation didn't show it. In fact he didn't show anything. At first Jim had been reluctant to let the Protoss on board, but recently he had begun to like him.

"Flyboy, status of the drop," Jim ordered over his headset.

"In the pipe, five by five. ETA thirty seconds," Flyboy replied.

Jim stood up and turned to look at the whole of 1st squad. "Thirty seconds!" he shouted over the engines, "Don't fire unless fired upon or if myself or Nanius gives the go ahead!"

"Yes sir!" they replied.

"If the shit does hit the fan, we will not be getting back on the dropship! Disperse and allow it to lift off. 2nd and 3rd squads are waiting back on the _Shogoki_ to reinforce us! In short, if this bastard fires on us we're running him into the God damn ground!" he elaborated, "Do you get me?"

"Yes sir!" they shouted.

"Sir, we're at the LZ," Flyboy said into his ear.

"Good," Jim turned to Labonte, "Drop the ramp."

The ramp clanged to the ground, allowing light to pour into the compartment. Jim squinted out onto the surface and saw that they were in a small fenced in base in the middle of a desert made up entirely of dirt. Stepping down from the dropship, Jim was followed in short order by the rest of 1st squad. The base was set up with mostly bunkers and a few quickly made steel structures that made Jim think this was not a permanent station but rather a temporary pickup point.

As his vision became more adjusted to the harshly bright lighting, he noted that there was at least a full three platoons of soldiers surrounding them in a wide circle. Half of them had CMC armor on and the rest were armed with AGR combat rifles.

"Listen, I don't know what their planning, but if you sense anything I want you to act. Don't ask, just do it," Jim said to Nanius.

"Yes Major," the tall warrior replied.

A group of four figures strode forth, two in CMC armor and the others in plain trench coats. Unusual clothing choices for such a stifling climate, thought Jim. He deduced that they were concealing weapons. The group stopped just in front of Jim, Nanius and the rest of first squad.

"You Major Goss?" the lead man asked.

"Yes I am," Jim replied, "Mr. Green I presume?"

"You presume correct," he answered, waving a crew of eight men and three SCVs forward.

The crew moved to the dropship and began unloading the hab crates. Working like bees, it wouldn't be long before all the hab was moved back into a supply structure off behind the barracks buildings. Jim found it a bit disturbing how they didn't just unpack right in the landing zone to make it quicker.

If his hunch was correct, they were giving the surrounding men a clear line of fire. Once the unloading was complete, Mr. Green waved the other unarmored man forward from behind the heavy troopers.

"This is Miles Snyder. He'll be going with you back to Golding," Mr. Green explained.

"Got it," Jim said and motioned the nervous looking Snyder onto the waiting dropship.

"Good doing business with you, Major," Mr. Green said and shook Jim's hand.

He moved to shake Nanius' hand and when he did so 4 things happened in rapid succession. Nanius gripped Green's hand and pulled him into a one armed headlock while at the same time bringing his right arm's psi blade up into place at the man's throat. Then Nanius threw himself to the ground, soon followed by the two CMC armored soldiers.

Catching on to the situation, Jim shouted, "Get down!" to the rest of the squad and flung himself to the dirt.

1st squad did as they were told and just in time too. The entire group of men surrounding the LZ opened fire; the bullets aimed at waist height. Rounds whizzed through the air above Jim's head and out of the corner of his eye he could see the man called Snyder being torn apart by the gunfire. His head burst like a balloon and the rest of his falling body caught rounds from all angles.

Jim realized that a sniper had deliberately placed the headshot, meaning two things. One was that Snyder had never been meant to live and probably knew nothing about any bank account or three million dollars. The other thing was that there was still a sniper out there that could hit them from elevation and didn't have the problem about worrying if he did or did not hit Mr. Green.

"Nanius!" Jim called over the gunfire, "Where's the sniper?"

"Atop the number three barracks building," the mind reader replied as he kept his hold on Mr. Green.

Jim nodded his thanks, but first thing was first. He looked over at the two prone forms of the CMC armored marines and put a burst in the top of each of their heads out of his Impaler. Then he looked for the barracks building. Through all the gunfire, he couldn't see clearly. Too much smoke was in the air.

"Nanius get him to stop the shooting!" he ordered.

"Yes Major," Nanius replied and looked at the man he was laying on top of, "Tell them to cease fire!"

"Fuck you!" Green replied.

Nanius didn't reply, and instead lifted the man's head above his own, just below the bullet fire.

"Okay, okay!" Green pleaded.

Nanius dropped him back down to the dirt and twisted his head so that he could speak without a mouth full of dirt.

"Cease fire!" he called out.

"Louder!" Nanius urged.

"CEASE FIRE!" he screamed.

Instantly the shots stopped, replaced by the eerie stillness of the desert. Looking around, Jim realized that Flyboy had lifted off in the commotion. Good, that meant that in a few moments reinforcements would be down here. Assuming that they lived long enough to receive them.

"1st squad!" Jim called, pausing to spit some dirt out of his mouth from where he remained prone, "Sound off!"

"Jones here!"

"Labonte here!"

As they were calling off their names, Jim located the sniper atop the barracks building. He was remaining perfectly still in a sitting position, a compact sniper rifle in his grip.

"Packer here!"

"Nanius present."

"Parker here!"

"Ayanami here!"

Jim saw the sniper abruptly stand up and move off the building, jumping down and heading toward another of the sheds. Apparently, Mr. Green had seen the same thing, as he saw fit to comment.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

"Now what, sir?" Parker asked from where he had rolled up next to Jim.

"We wait for the reinforcements," Jim whispered, "Without all that hab they should be able to fit both 2nd and 3rd squads in there."

"Got it," Parker replied and rolled away to go tell Labonte.

"Major, they're just going to open fire on the dropship the moment it arrives and drops off troops. The effort will be in vain unless they have the initiative to land outside the camp and arrive on foot," Nanius pointed out.

"Well, let's hope they have the brains to do that," Jim said.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake and Jim watched as a small pebble in front of his face vibrated across the dirt as a result. Jim had no idea what it could be, but it was accompanied by a sound like rumbling thunder.

"Is it Zerg?" Nanius asked no one in particular.

"I don't know," Jim said in honesty.

"That traitorous son of a bitch. I should have never hired a mercenary," muttered Mr. Green.

Jim was about to ask what he meant when the door to the camp's motor pool burst open and a massive Siege Tank rolled into view, impaling seven light armored men on a row of spikes attached to its front end. A battery of auto turrets on top of the turret swiveled around on their mounts and started pumping rounds into the men surrounding it.

A Firebat that was standing to close to one side received a dose of his own medicine in the form of a napalm rocket launched out of a small two-by-two box welded alongside its kin above the tread pod. The rocket hit the Firebat right in the chest and blew him apart, engulfing the men around him in flame.

"What the hell is that thing doing?" asked Jones.

"Covering us," Jim replied, "Dogs: Open fire!"

1st squad sprung to its feet and opened up on the side of the encirclement that was not being occupied by the massive supped up Siege Tank. Jim put his shield in front of him, denying a burst of AGR fire access to his body. He returned the favor with twelve shots from his Impaler that blew the shooter back a few yards with the spikes jutting out of his chest.

There was a deafening bang and roughly twenty men vanished in a fiery explosion coupled with a plume of dirt. Jim looked back just in time to see the Siege Tank pivot its barrel and discharge the load from its second barrel. This shot hit another group of marines and light infantry. Instead of reloading, the tank rumbled into motion and started running over the enemy troops with its huge treads and frontal spikes.

The dropship appeared out of the sky and wheeled around before settling its skids into the dirt, dropping the ramp and allowing 2nd and 3rd squads to pour out onto the battlefield.

"McCabe! Secure the command post!" Jim ordered over the gunshots and explosions erupting all around him.

Nick nodded and turned to his troops. "2nd squad: move to the target area! On me!" he barked and jetted into the fray with his jumpjets.

"Mana cover that tank!" Jim shouted.

"Roger that! 3rd squad if anything gets within that monster's blind spot I'll deny you all beer for one month!" Mana hollered, "Now haul ass!"

3rd squad jumped into overdrive and ran screaming at the men trying to flank the Siege Tank, firing as they ran. The targeted light infantry turned about just in time to meet 3rd squad's boots, gun barrels and bayonets right up in their faces. Mana herself led the charge, kicking in another armored marine with her massive neo-steel boot.

She smacked an unarmored marine in the side of the head with her rifle barrel and broke his neck in the process, letting the barrel slide off his head in line with another target. She squeezed the trigger and absorbed the recoil easily with one hand. The poor marine targeted received a barrage of fire right in the gut, driving him onto the ground.

Another enemy ran up with a pistol and shot her in the arm, blowing the limb out of joint and keeping her from firing. Mana simply crushed the little guy's head with her fist. She punched a button on her chest plate and sighed as a stim pack was injected into her bloodstream. With renewed vigor, she forced her broken arm into working again with the added power provided by the stim pack and began firing again.

Jim watched her with nothing short of awe at how she had completely lost the happy smile and joyful demeanor, replacing it instead with…this.

The Siege Tank fired a rocket out of a launcher mounted alongside its turret that whizzed past Jim, knocking him both off balance and out of his Mana-induced trance. The rocket hit an enemy Vulture that had just emerged out of a small shed adjacent to a barracks building. The attack bike blew apart, spreading metal debris everywhere.

At this final display of destruction, the remaining seven members of the camp's original garrison promptly lay down their weapons and put their hands in the air. The Siege Tank's auto turrets instantly and completely eradicated them.

"McCabe, how's the command post?" Jim asked over the COM.

"Clear, no one's in here," Nick replied.

Jim turned to Mr. Green, who was bound by the twisted barrel of an Impaler at Nanius' feet. "Where's the money?" he asked.

Green laughed a bit, "There is no money you idiot! We were gonna kill you and keep the whole-"

Jim shot him in the face six times with his flak pistol.

"McCabe, if you find anything interesting let me know," Jim said.

"Will do Jim," he replied and squelched off the channel.

The tank was still running in place, not having moved since the prisoners were killed. Then it suddenly shut down and the hatch opened, allowing a slim looking figure to step out that Jim instantly noted was the sniper he'd seen earlier.

"Major Goss? Of the _Shogoki_?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Jim replied.

The sniper jumped down off the tank and walked over to Jim, now revealing that he was wearing Ghost armor and goggles with a C20 rifle slung over his back.

"Specialist Gabriel Kahn, I was with Raynor on Aiur," he said and shook Jim's hand, "Can I talk to Ayanami?"

"Sure, she's right over there," Jim said and pointed out the medic.

Kahn jogged over to her, igniting an excited squeal from the blue-haired girl. Jim would have loved to listen to their conversation, but he had better things to do. Such as inspect the giant of a tank that was now sitting immobile at the center of the camp it helped destroy.


	51. Chapter 51

**Author's Note: With this update you'll be introduced to some new people. This series is beginning to run away and leave me in the dust with a bag to pick up the pieces, which is oddly enough a very fun way to write and hopefully a fun way to read. I kind of want to know something, though: Who's your favorite character? I know mine, but I was wondering what all you guys out in reader-ville thought on the issue. Drop me a review or PM to let me know, okay? Thanks a lot, now on with the continuing romp through the Korpulu Sector!**

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 51: Frankentank**

Jim opened the Siege Tank's hatch and peered down into it. The interior lights weren't on, making it impossible to see anything.

"Anyone by chance bring a flashlight?" he asked over his shoulder to where most of the landing party had gathered.

"Um, Flyboy might have one in the dropship," Jones suggested.

"Go find out," Jim ordered, "And get the keys from Kahn while you're at it. Everybody else, disperse."

The assembled soldiers started to scatter. "Except you Kirishima," Jim said to Mana.

She stopped mid stride and turned to give him a questioning look. Jim sat down on the tread cover and patted the open steel spot next to him, indicating she sit there. Smiling, she climbed up and plopped down next to him in her own bulky armored suit.

"You did good today, commanding your squad and all," he said, looking her directly in the eyes.

"Thank you sir," she replied, sitting up a little in pride.

Jim nodded and looked across the destroyed drug dealer camp. The ground, like more of its kind all around the planet, was covered by dirt. When the Protoss had cleansed the planet of the Zerg infestation they had done so completely, without missing a speck of land. Only the barren remains of what Mar Sara once was remained.

He hated it.

"What's on your mind sir?" Mana asked from beside him.

"Nothing," he replied with a slight shake of his head.

"Sir, with all due respect, you don't look like nothing's on your mind," she pressed.

Jim looked over at her, once again locking their gazes together. This time however, his eyes read 'don't go there'. Mana put her hands up into the air in a gesture of surrender.

"Hey, I apologize for getting out of line," she said.

Jim let his stare linger a second longer before breaking it just as Kahn walked up to the tank.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jim said, "I did. What the hell is this thing?"

"That's a customized AAV-5 Arclite Siege Tank. The dealers attached napalm rocket launchers and auto turrets as well as the frontal ramming spikes. Aside from that they also cut firing ports into the sides. They call it Frankentank," Kahn explained.

Mana barked a short laugh.

"What?" Jim asked.

"Frankentank," she replied as if it answered the question.

Jim shook his head and turned back to Kahn. "And you can drive it?" he asked.

"Yes," Kahn replied.

He clambered up the side toward the hatched until Jim stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Why were you here?" he asked.

"Mr. Green contacted Raynor and had me sent to cover the transaction. I was supposed to make sure everyone who came down on the dropship died," he explained.

"And what stopped you?" Jim pressed.

"Rei being one of them," Kahn said, nodding to where Ayanami was kneeling next to the injured Private Higgins.

Jim thought for a second before responding. "You need a lift out of here?" he asked finally.

"Sure, if you don't mind I'll call Raynor and see if I can stick with you guys," Kahn replied.

"Always good to have another team mate," Jim said and held out his hand.

Kahn shook it just as Jones returned with a flashlight. He tossed it up to Jim, who then offered it to Kahn. The Ghost shook his head and instead slid his night vision goggles down onto his face. Slipping down into the hatch, he activated the tank. It rumbled to life and the interior lights flickered into operation. In his armor, there was no way Jim could fit into the hatch but that didn't stop him from looking down into the hatch.

The inside seemed well kept. Or as well kept as a functioning Siege Tank could get. The metal grating that served as the floor was just like all Terran constructed steel things: heavy, durable and tough looking. The navigation console was functioning and so were the gunner and driver seats. Everything seemed to be beeping, booping and blinking correctly, so Jim withdrew his head from the hatch.

"McCabe, how's the command post coming?" Jim asked into his mic as Mana poked her head into the hatch.

"There's no body in here, no money either. These boy's weren't planing on paying up any time soon," Nick replied.

"Shit," Jim said, "Get outside and help the other squads retrieve all useful items off the corpses."

"Roger that," Nick replied and squelched out.

Jim switched the channel on his COM link to the _Shogoki_ in orbit above them. "Ground team to _Shogoki_. Katsuragi we'll be up there in a minute or two. Over."

"Don't bother coming back up," Katsuragi replied, "We're coming to you."

"Why?" Jim asked.

"Look to your right."

Jim turned to see the _Shogoki _hauling ass straight for them only fifty feet off the deck. Behind it loomed a much larger Behemoth-class Battlecruiser, lasers flashing from its nose after the _Shogoki_.

"Everybody grab hold of something!" Jim shouted and jumped down from the tank.

He and Mana ran around the back of the tank and dived under it just before the ship rocketed overhead, blowing a cloud of dirt up in its wake. Then the second, much larger, Battlecruiser followed it. The tank's chassis groaned as it held fast against the hurricane winds. Roof tore off of buildings and the chain link fence that surrounded the camp was blown free of the ground, sent tumbling across the area.

Dead bodies followed mixed with the debris as well as fallen rifles, grenades and vehicle parts. The barracks buildings collapsed and were caught up in the swirling mess of junk. After twenty seconds following the ship's passing, Jim crawled out from under the tank to see the _Shogoki _making a wide arch far out over the landscape.

"What the hell is she doing?" Mana muttered where she stood up next to Jim.

"I'm not quite sure," Jim replied, "Kahn, you have any idea who's ship that is?"

"Probably Green's. Come to pick him up after the job was done," he suggested.

In the distance, the _Shogoki _had completed its turn and was now heading straight at the other ship…


	52. Chapter 52

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 52: Chicken**

"Uh, ma'am-" Hyuga started.

"I know it's bigger than us!" Katsuragi cut him off.

On the main screen, they were headed straight for the other, much larger, Behemoth-class vessel.

"Ma'am-"

"They'll either break course or die! You stay on course!" she said.

"But we'll die too!" Hyuga protested.

"Not if they break!"

"But-"  
"If you break I'll shoot you," she said calmly.

Hyuga pulled at his collar and turned back around to his console, defeated. The ship was closing rapidly on the main screen, its Yamato barrel looking like an open mouth.

"Time to impact five, four, three, two-"

The other ship pulled up at the last second, engaging its emergency boosters to do so. The front of the _Shogoki_ brushed the bottom of the other ship briefly before clearing it and continuing its course across the ground, passing over the camp for the second time in a minute.

"We're alive!" Hyuga shouted.

"Don't get to excited, they're turning," she said, thinking about her next move.

She had hoped that they would have dodged down instead of up, thus crushing it into the ground and giving her a clear shot with the ship's small Yamato gun. Now she'd have to think up something different. _Come on Misato,_ she pressured herself, _You didn't survive the fleet's destruction on Char because you were stupid! Think!_

"Hyuga pull up to a in atmosphere surveying altitude," she ordered.

"Aye ma'am," he replied.

"Status of the enemy vessel?" she asked.

"Almost fully about. It will have a clear shot with its Yamato gun in thirty seconds," he answered.

The Battlecruiser had her outgunned and outmatched speed wise, but she had the smaller, more maneuverable of the two ships. If she could only find a place where that would be a positive on her side…

"There!" she shouted, pointing at the main screen, "Get us in that canyon!"

"Aye ma'am!" Hyuga sounded.

He pulled the _Shogoki_ into a hard banking dive straight for the deep gash in Mar Sara's surface. Katsuragi gripped the sides of her command chair to keep from falling out and onto the back of Hyuga's chair. In atmosphere gravity did affect her ability to safely sit in the piece of furniture and she would have buckled in with the combat harness but she was a little occupied with commanding the ship and all.

The _Shogoki_ entered the canyon and Hyuga pulled up just before they hit the starving river at the bottom, causing what little water was left in it to swirl up in their wake and splash across the canyon walls. The other ship stayed above the canyon, knowing that it couldn't fit without risking damage to its hull. Instead it started launching missiles down into the area in pursuit of the smaller ship.

"Missiles!" Hyuga shouted.

"Well shake them off!" Katsuragi ordered.

Hyuga jockeyed his controls and sent the ship into a narrow part of the canyon, turning it onto its side to get through. Most of the missiles exploded on the walls, except for one, which in its determination continued to chase after its assigned target with vigor. Hyuga took a quick turn at a ninety-degree turn in the pass and the missile overshot, colliding with the orange wall.

The _Shogoki _didn't get out unscathed either, as it wasn't meant to take a turn that fast in atmosphere. Its bottom scrapped against the canyon wall and knocked a boulder the size of a Siege Tank loose. The large rock splashed into the river as the ship continued on its way.

Katsuragi climbed forward to Hyuga's station, steadying herself on the back of his chair against the rocking motion of his maneuverings and tapped into the Yamato controls in the space not occupied by his rapidly moving hands. She began the charging process and set it to stop at ninety percent to keep it from discharging.

"Ma'am, that could cause it to overload and explode!" Hyuga said.

"I'm fully aware of that, now quickly dodge that obstacle," she said.

The _Shogoki _dived beneath a rock arch, so close that it took out one of the communication antennas on top of the bridge.

"Where is it?" Katsuragi asked as the arch collapsed behind them.

"Still above us!" Hyuga shouted back.

"Status of the cannon?" she asked.

"Holding at ninety percent!" he answered.

"Move over," she said and pushed him out of the seat, taking the controls herself, "This is personal."

She pulled the _Shogoki _up out of the canyon on an apparent course for the exosphere while at the same time completing the charging process for the Yamato cannon. She pulled back further, sending the ship into an inverted loop. Hyuga fell onto the ceiling and Katsuragi held onto the console to keep herself from falling.

At the apex of the loop, they were in line with the front of the enemy Battlecruiser. The Yamato gun was charged. Katsuragi hit the fire key.

The focused ball of nuclear energy lanced across the sky, splitting the air behind it and went straight down the other ship's own Yamato barrel, hitting the reactor and not only gutting the ship but creating a nuclear explosion that rocketed across the planet's surface. It also blew the _Shogoki _end over end away from the blast.

Katsuragi was able to stabilize the craft and get it to hold steady at seventy feet above the ground. She stood up from the helm seat and walked over to where Hyuga had landed on top of the tactics table.

"You okay?" she asked, lifting his head up.

"My glasses are cracked and my arm's probably broken, but I wouldn't have missed that for the world," he responded.

"I'll take that as a yes," she muttered and helped him up off the table.

Just then, the radio crackled to life and Jim's voice blared out of it.

"_Holy shit Katsuragi!" _in the background there came the sound of clapping, whooping and laughing, "_Nice one!"_

"Thanks Jim, and since we're in atmosphere already I figure we could come get you guy's in about-"

"_Hold that thought Katsuragi. Kahn, did you start the Siege Tank? Then what the hell's that vibrating? Oh shit, all units open fire!"_


	53. Chapter 53

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 53: Battle at Mar Sara**

"Hold that thought Katsuragi," Jim told the woman he was talking with and turned to Kahn, who had recently emerged from inside Frankentank, "Kahn, did you start the Siege Tank?"

"No," Kahn replied.

"Then what the hell's that vibrating?" Jim asked.

Looking around, he saw a group of Zerg emerging from the ground outside the perimeter.

"Oh shit, all units open fire!" he shouted and pulled his rifle up into place.

Mana opened fire before anyone else, letting roar with a hail of ninety 8mm spikes in three seconds, shredding a cluster of Zerglings. In a flash of light and roar of jets, Nick landed next to Jim with his scythe pistols out. A burst of fire later and a Hydralisk collapsed into the dirt with a series of holes gushing blood out of its elongated head.

Nanius let out a mighty battle roar and launched himself off Frankentank, through the air and into a group of Hydralisks that had emerged from the ground a few feet away from it. One swung at him with its scythe arms. Nanius ducked beneath the swing and lashed out with a flurry of stabs at its midsection, slicing through its carapace and spilling blood onto the ground.

A final strike brought his right psi blade through the creature's chin and into its brain before exiting the top of its head. By bringing the base of the blade up, Nanius effectively split its face open. Another Hydralisk stabbed at him from behind, and due to his heightened senses he was able to dodge it in time, grab the arm and throw the creature over his shoulder.

It snarled and Nanius plunged his left blade into its forehead and killed it with a brain shot. The third of four total Hydralisks in the group slid into place in front of him and displayed its array of acid spikes ready to launch. Another slid up behind him, putting an arm around his throat to hold him in place. Just before the first Hydralisk fired, Nanius broke free of the other's grip and dove to the right, allowing the spikes to slice into the other Hydralisk and kill it.

A napalm rocket hit the remaining Hydralisk from Frankentank, blowing burnt carapace all over Nanius. Standing, the Protoss Zealot heard Jim shout, "All squads fall back to the dropship! 1st and 2nd squads hold the line! 3rd squad retreat!"

The Zerg were practically crawling over each other to get a bite out of the few Terrans in the destroyed camp. Zerglings and Hydralisks composed the majority of the force, leading Jim to feel slightly relieved that this force wasn't a newer bred one. If that were the case then he was sure Banelings would have been involved in the attack.

"3rd squad! On me!" Mana shouted and started walking backwards to the dropship, all the time keeping up her fire on the attacking aliens.

"Ultralisk!" shouted Labonte, ceasing fire to point at the lumbering behemoth.

This cost him dearly as a Hydralisk to the opportunity to cleave his head from his shoulders. His body hit the ground just as the Ultralisk busted through what little chain link fence was still standing after the Battlecruiser flyby and the initial Zerg wave. It headed straight for the Frankentank, as if on a mission to destroy it and quell the danger it posed.

"Kahn get the hell out of there!" Jim shouted over his radio.

Frankentank instead rushed the Ultralisk, its frontal spikes stabbing into the creature's legs and locking it up on the front of the tank. The Ultralisk howled in pain and fought back, bringing one of its tusks down into the front portion of the tank where the driver's seat was.

Inside, Kahn leapt back out of the seat just before the tusk destroyed the console. Rolling to his feet, he ran back into the gunner's seat before the turret and swung the two main 90mm guns into line with the Ultralisk's head. He loaded a shell into each and pressed the firing trigger. The first shell shattered one of the Ultralisk's tusks and sent fragments of it raining down onto the bloodied dirt below.

The second shot grazed its head, making it even more pissed than it already was. With another of its three remaining tusks, it slashed at the turret. It stabbed into the tank and Kahn dodged it again, this time landing just below the hatch. He was about to stand and try to get out through the hatch when the Ultralisk picked the tank up over its head using the two tusks it had jammed into the vehicle.

The sudden inversion made Kahn face plant into the closed hatch. Ignoring the pain, the Ghost wrenched the hatch open and fell out onto the dirt, which had by now turned into a kind of reddish brown clay from all the blood that had been spilt on it. He had just begun to stumble to his feet and make his way out from under Frankentank when a Zergling landed on his back.

He rolled over and held the creature away from him, allowing a half-second burst of fifteen Impaler rounds to yank it out of his grasp and send it careening away through the air. Jim yanked him to his feet and tossed him back toward the dropship with his left hand, while launching a rocket out of the underside launcher on his Impaler with the right.

The rocket hit the Ultralisk in the other eye, totally blinding it and causing it to let out an earthshaking roar. Thinking he'd solved the problem, Jim turned to run for the dropship. Hearing a metallic groan, he turned and saw Frankentank flying through the air straight at him. Thankfully, Nick boosted into Jim and pulled him out of the way before the massive vehicle hit and rolled thirty feet to an upside down stop.

The two men got up and moved toward the dropship once again as the blinded Ultralisk cleaved its own fellow Zerg apart in its rage. Reaching the ramp, Jim saw Mana and Jones laying down covering fire against the unstoppable tide of alien flesh. Nanius helped both him and Nick onto the craft, one hand to each.

Once they were on, Mana hit the ramp toggle and continued to fire even as the ramp closed. A Hydralisk's arm got caught in the door just as it shut, losing it in the process.

"Flyboy go!" Jim shouted.

"I'm going! I'm going!" the pilot replied, hitting the ignition and blasting the dropship up into the air.

The shrieks of the swarm died away after a moment and all that was left was the roar of the craft's engines.

"Hey! We're…fuck," Flyboy said.

On his display was a patrol of seven Mutalisks.

"We're gonna die!" he shouted in panic.

_"Get a hold on yourself, Flyboy. Its all good," _a voice said over the COM channel.

"Maverick?" Flyboy asked.

Two Wraiths flashed by and engaged the Mutalisks with their air-to-air missiles.

_"Situation under control, just get back to the _Shogoki_ alright?" _Meatloaf put in from his Wraith.

"You got it!" Flyboy said and adjusted course straight for the light Battlecruiser two miles away.


	54. Chapter 54

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 54: Retreat from Mar Sara**

As the docking clamps began to move into place around the dropship, the ramp dropped and Jim jumped out, causing the small craft to rock in place. Flyboy cursed as the motion made a clamp scrape against the tail fin unsatisfactorily. Jim pulled the helmet portion of his suit off and headed out of the hanger toward the bridge intending to talk to Katsuragi.

To his surprise, she met him half way: waiting for him on the elevator.

"What the hell happened?" Jim asked.

Katsuragi opened her mouth but was cut off by a deep rumble from behind Jim.

"Major, what would you have the squads do?" Nanius inquired.

Jim turned and waved him back, "Just, get them ready in case the Zerg board us."

"They don't normally use that as a tactic," Nanius pointed out.

"Then have them open up airlocks and shoot the bastards with their Impalers! Jesus Christ can't you see I'm a bit busy figuring out what the hell is going on?" Jim shouted.

"I am on it Major," Nanius said and darted off to work.

"Good," Jim turned back to Katsuragi and got on the elevator.

As the door closed, she started to explain. "We were in orbit when that ship warped in and opened fire. It wasn't registered, but my guess is it was one of Green's ships. How'd your side of the op go?" she asked.

"Labonte's dead," Jim said, keeping his stare aimed straight ahead.

"I'm sorry," Katsuragi replied.

"Don't be. Focus on getting us the hell out of here before the Zerg gets its shit together," he ordered.

"Hyuga's breaking for orbit as we speak. Once we're outside the atmosphere and the Wraiths have been recalled, we'll be warping to the rendezvous point. That good?" she explained.

"That's fine. Just get it done," Jim said as the elevator stopped and opened up to reveal the ship's bridge.

--

"What about the Battlecruiser?" Mengsk asked from behind his desk.

Colonel Roth, still unfamiliar with his newfound lack of depth perception from the wound inflicted upon his now-removed right eye, stepped forward and stumbled a bit.

"Emperor, we lost contact with it one hour ago. I believe that the Dogs of War flagship, _Shogoki_, took it down," he reported.

"If what you've said to me is to be believed," Mengsk said calmly, but with a hint of agitation in his voice, "Then their so called flagship was less than half the size of that Battlecruiser. Correct?"

Roth resisted the urge to gulp as he continued, "Yes Emperor, you are correct. But the commander is skilled. In my encounter with him I felt strongly that he was capable of such an act."

"Who is this commander?" Mengsk asked.

"Major Jim Goss. When I cross-checked him I learned that he was a Sergeant in the Confederate Alpha Squadron. He was busted down to Private during Mar Sara for going AWOL. He joined Raynor's Raiders after New Gettysburg and I assume that he was with them until recently," Roth said.

"If he was with Raynor then he's good. What about the mole?" Mengsk asked.

"I received word from them a little bit ago. The ship ran into Zerg on Mar Sara. They're currently headed for the pick-up coordinates where they'll receive payment for the delivery."

Mengsk was silent for a bit. Roth could tell he was thinking and was wondering what about until the Emperor answered the question.

"I think it would be a positive use of resources to get this Goss person taken care of. I'm entrusting the operation to you, Roth, but be careful not to let your lust for revenge cloud your vision," he said in his usual suave tone.

"Yes my Emperor," Roth said, saluted, spun on his heel and left the office.

As the door closed, a third voice sounded from the shadowy corners of the chamber. "Orders, sir?" it asked.

"Follow him. Don't make it obvious, but if Roth starts to slip up, take matters into your own hands," he replied.

"Understood."

--

"This whole poker room thing is getting a little bit crowded, don't you think?" Nick asked Jax as they sat down at a table of himself, the redneck, Nanius, Ayanami, Mana, Gabriel Kahn, Fluffy the Ursadon and Jeffy the Probe.

"Nah, I've been in more crowded rooms than this. Like the time where we had an orgy at the family reunion when I was in sixth grade. My cousin wa-"

"Stop," Nick said bluntly, shutting the stinking man up.

"Let's play cards!" Ayanami said and started dealing from where she sat in Kahn's lap with Fluffy in her's.

"Aw, you three look like a family," Mana cooed to the trio.

Kahn laughed a bit and Ayanami blushed.

"Can we please begin so I may acquire all of your money?" Nanius asked.

No one said anything until Jim entered the medical bay. "Hey, glad to see you waited a full ten seconds to begin your little game after we escaped certain death," he deadpanned.

"You want a seat, Major?" Mana asked.

"No, no I've got shit to do," Jim said, "Just wanted to see how you guys were doing."

Jim left and they returned to their game.


	55. Chapter 55

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 55: Across the Sector**

In the down time created by a warp jump, the Dogs of War had found interesting and varied ways to kill the time. As was now a routine occurrence, the poker game in the medical bay had attracted its usual contestants and produced its usual results: Nanius winning and Jax losing all of his money, placing everyone else involved somewhere in between the two.

"I just don't know how he does it!" Jax ranted as he walked down C deck's aft hall behind Nick to their room.

"Do you think it has anything to do with how he's a Protoss and he can sense your thoughts?" Nick asked.

Jax considered this a minute before shaking his head. "No, I think he's card counting," he said.

"You can't card count in poker, Jax. That's for blackjack," Nick explained slowly, as he would a child.

"Oh," Jax said as they entered the small two-man room.

The crew of the _Shogoki _had been divided into pairs to sleep in the small cabins that ran up and down C deck. Either by accident or as a sick joke, Jim had paired Nick up with Jax. Now that they had gotten in, Nick promptly collapsed on his bed, falling asleep immediately.

Jax briefly thought about if there was anything he could do besides sleep while he waited for the warp jump to come to its close, then realized that there wasn't and quickly followed Nick's example onto his own bed.

--

Many, many millions of miles away, a totally different ship was housing a totally different conversation between two people who were totally different than those on the _Shogoki_. A Protoss named Kyrtas sighed as he began to relay his report.

"The deep space scouting parties have reported no activity in the vicinity at all. As far as all of our scans are concerned, there is nothing out there but minute dust particles and the echoing of the solar winds," he explained.

"And no trace of what I've asked for?" the cloaked figure asked, not taking its eyes off of the stars before it out of the observation window.

"There is nothing out there," he repeated.

"Check again. Your instruments were in error," came the response.

"I respectfully point out that our instruments are in perfect working condition and would never have missed something as large as a Terran warp exit portal," he said, controlling his anger carefully.

"You seem agitated Kyrtas," the figure said, "Are you agitated?"

Silence.

"As I thought. Check again, please."

"As you wish," Kyrtas replied and left the observation room to go down and relay the new orders to the Corsair pilots out on patrol.

--

"Traz!"

Traz sat up in shock at the booming female voice banging through his mind so suddenly while he was sleeping.

"Yes my Queen?" he asked in return.

"Report to my inner sanctum at once!" Kerrigan ordered.

"At once my Queen," he replied and crawled out of his sleeping cocoon.

Leaving his own inner sanctum, he walked through the creep-covered tunnels of the Tarsonis primary hive cluster until he found Kerrigan's particular nasty looking slimy door. Upon entering, he saw the Zerg Queen of Blades standing in her normal spot at the center of the chamber.

"We've just intercepted a Dominion communication signal," she explained, "You may find it interesting."

Before Traz could say anything, the walls started conducting the scratchy audio associated with a Terran transmission.

_"Korhal Fleet Command transmitting to Dominion heavy Battlecruiser Dark Star. The files you requested on the suspects in question are attached to this message. Good hunting, Fleet Command out."_

"Fascinating," Traz said, stifling a yawn.

Kerrigan abruptly grabbed him around the throat and dug her claws into his sickly green flesh. "You ignorant bastard, I ought to kill you right now," she hissed.

"Then do it," Traz said, not really caring anymore.

"I would, but I need you for something," she said, "The attached files were decoded this morning. They contained information on all those little rats that managed to nuke your transport."

"Oh," Traz managed.

"Use the info. Kill them, and get me that Relay Disrupter," she ordered, "Now get out of my face. I'm in no mood to fool around."

Traz obediently scurried away to get to work on this new development.


	56. Chapter 56

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 56: Rendezvous**

"Thoughts?" Jim asked Katsuragi.

They were both standing on the bridge looking at the main screen, on which was live feed of a remote space platform. Sitting on its surface in a big open area was a small civilian transport ship. Outside the ship in CMC battle armor stood three figures.

"I think, that Golding must be holding up on his end of the deal," Katsuragi replied.

"I meant on what we should do now," Jim said.

"Oh," she said, "Then I think we should land the entire ship."

"Good idea. I'll form everybody up at the invasion ramp," Jim said and left the bridge.

Once on the elevator, he pushed the button for the bottom deck. Then he switched on his COM link.

"Squad's 1 through 3 form up at the invasion ramp ASAP. Check your suit seals and bring weapons. Out."

The elevator came to a stop and opened its doors, allowing Jim to step out. The invasion ramp was a large section at the bottom of the ship that could be lowered, allowing up to three Siege Tanks or two platoons of troops to exit the ship at once in a rush of manpower. It effectively turned the _Shogoki _into an oversized dropship.

After a few minutes, the squads showed up packed into three elevator loads and assembled around Jim.

"One rule for this: don't fire without me saying so. Got it?" he asked.

"Yes sir," they replied.

--

Golding watched as the _Shogoki_ came in for a landing, its bow sticking up higher than its stern. The rear struts touched down first, followed by their fore counterparts. The ship came to a stop on the gray metal that covered the space platform and sat for a minute, its sensors reading the surrounding area. Then a massive ramp in the bottom lowered and the Dogs of War emerged.

The three whole squads of soldiers marched across the landing zone and stopped ten feet from Golding and his two bodyguards. The lead suited man pointed at the ground in front of his feet and said one word.

"Payment."

"Where's the guy?" Golding asked, mindful of the five hundred thousand dollars in the briefcase held in his right hand.

"He's dead. Green killed him," Jim replied, "Give me the money."

"I assume that Green was killed then?" Golding asked.

"You got that right," Jim said.

"Did you recover the hab?" Golding asked.

"No, and I'm not going to. If you want it back then you can fight your way through the Zerg yourself," Jim said bluntly, "Now give me the money."

"I don't think I can do that," Golding said and turned his back on Jim to head to his transport.

"Asshole," Jim muttered, "All squads open fire."

The three squads let loose with their Impalers, cutting through Golding's two bodyguards like they weren't even there. A C20 round punched its way through Golding's skull and drove his CMC suited body to the ground. A D18 charge latched itself onto the engine housing of the transport and detonated, blowing the entire ship into bits of hot steel that rocketed into space.

"Mana, case, now," Jim ordered.

The female sergeant hopped through the low gravity to the dead body of Golding and pried the briefcase from his dead fingers. Turning, she tossed the briefcase to Jim who then caught it with his free hand and walked back toward the _Shogoki_.

--

"Sir, Golding is down," reported Lieutenant Commander Davis from where she stood behind the surveillance station aboard the Battlecruiser _Dark Star_.

"Thank you Commander," replied Colonel Roth, unconsciously rubbing his eye patch with his index and middle fingers, "De-cloak the Wraiths and commence the attack."

"Aye sir," replied Davis.

--

Katsuragi was busy taking a sip of her morning coffee when Hyuga shouted.

"Twelve Wraiths de-cloaking just outside our missile range!"

The former UED Captain spit her coffee all over her uniform pants in surprise. Without thinking, she grabbed her headset and put it on, while at the same time tuning it to the frequency the ground team was on.

"Jim, we've got company," she said.

_"So I noticed,"_ he replied.

On the monitor, Katsuragi could see the three squads spin around as one and launch a volley of rocket propelled grenades up at the Wraiths. Most of the nimble multipurpose flyers were able to dodge the shots, except for one. Three of the rockets impacted its right-side engine and sent it spiraling into one of its comrades, forcing both craft to spin out into the blackness of space with no hope of recovering.

"Hyuga, where'd they come from?" Katsuragi demanded.

"I'm working on that!" he answered while frantically typing in commands.

He conducted a long range sensor sweep and instantly found the source of the Wraiths.

"Ma'am, there's a Dominion Battlecruiser holding position six kilometers outside our defense envelope!" he reported.

"What class?" she asked.

Hyuga gulped. "Hercules," he replied nervously.

"God damnit," she muttered, "Jim we've got a massive neo-steel plated problem."

_"We're on board and closing the ramp. Move, now!"_ came his response.

--

"Colonel they've taken off. Wraiths cannot close in, there are to many defenses," Davis reported.

"Follow them!" Roth ordered.

The _Dark Star _lurched forward after the _Shogoki_, which by now was already opening a warp hole just off the space platform.

"Sir?" Davis asked.

"We are not going to lose them! Go in after it!" he shouted.

"Additional contact!" shouted the helm, "In between us and the target!"

"What is it?" asked Davis, peering over the helm's shoulder.

"Is it a civilian? I thought we had this area cleared?" Roth asked.

"Negative," Davis answered, "Its unregistered, but definitely Dominion."

On the screen, Roth saw his target disappear into the warp hole, only to be followed by a much smaller black scout ship.


	57. Chapter 57

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 57: Neo-Steel Solid**

Private Packer lay on the floor of the invasion ramp, screaming with blood jutting out of the remaining stump of his left leg. A Wraith's air-to-ground laser had burned it off. His suit had malfunctioned and the hole in the armor was not sealed automatically, sucking the air out of his lungs. He had lived long enough to be hauled back onto the ship, however, and as soon as the air had reentered his body he began screaming.

"Ayanami!" Jim shouted from where he was kneeling next to Packer.

"I'm coming!" the blue-haired medic replied and bounded across the deck to him.

She crouched next to Packer on the opposite side from the one Jim occupied. With one hand she palmed his bleeding stump, trying to stop the blood flow. With the other, she pulled a device out of her belt. It had a readout atop a triggered handle topped off with a needle at the front. She slid the needle under the skin of his neck and triggered the device.

The readout beeped thrice and displayed his vitals. His heart rate, breaths per minute and brain activity were all jacked through the roof, while the remaining total blood in his body was way below the critical life limit.

"Well?" Jim asked, looking up from where he was gripping Packer's gloved hand in one hand and holding his face away from the wound with the other.

Ayanami shook her head, telling him that there was nothing she could do.

"Packer, Packer look at me!" Jim ordered.

The Marine finally looked right at him, tears streaming out of his eyes from the pain.

"There's nothing we can do. You've lost too much blood," Jim explained.

"You sure, Doc?" Packer asked Ayanami directly.

"Yeah, there's nothing I can do," she answered and injected him with an anti-pain cocktail, then thought to add, "I'm so sorry."

Packer looked back to Jim. "Sir, if you ever find my folks, tell them that I loved them, and that I hope they were proud of me," he said.

"I'll do that, Packer, I will," Jim replied.

The painkillers kicked in and Packer passed peacefully with a grin on his face, his lifeblood oozing out onto the deck.

--

_"Ibuki! Ibuki if you're there pick up!" _Misato's voice filtered out of the hard-line inter-ship communication station in the engine room.

The room was absolutely still, with no sign of anyone moving or stirring about in any way.

_"Ibuki! Ibuki!"_

--

Jim let Packer's helmeted head back down and rubbed his temples with his fingers, trying to relieve the stress he was under. Sometimes, it got a little hard to bear the weight of making every decision and having every injury, bad feeling, death and bill for ammunition on his shoulders. Eventually he stood; realizing Jones was helping Ayanami move Packer's body into the elevator for the morgue.

_"Jim, we detected a close range matter transmitter signal from outside the ship to a point somewhere inside it," _Katsuragi said into his ear.

"But we're in the middle of a warp jump. That doesn't make any sense," he replied, noting that this didn't help his stress level.

_"I'm not sure how but it did happen. Best guess at exit point is in the engine room. I called ahead but couldn't get a response out of Ibuki," _she said.

"I'm on it. McCabe, Nanius: Form up! Let's kick some ass!"

--

The door to the engine room slid open, allowing the light from the outside corridor to flood inside in a stream of illumination that cut into the otherwise dark room.

"Lights on," Jim ordered in a hushed whisper to Nick as he flicked on the bulbs on his suit's shoulders.

Nick didn't reply verbally, instead flicking on his own lights. Nanius could see proficiently in the dark and so didn't need any external light source. The three warriors moved into the large dark room, the two Terrans panning back and forth with their upper bodies in search of either the missing lieutenant Ibuki or an attacker.

"Ibuki?" Jim called out.

"You in here?" Nick asked, his voice swallowed by the darkness.

"I believe I have found her," Nanius said and walked into Jim's light beams.

In his outstretched hand was a human forearm covered in a UED uniform sleeve with blood dripping from the place where it had been severed from the body.

Jim spun to Nick. "Seal the room," he ordered.

Nick dashed over to the entrance blast door and closed it before engaging the electronic locks. Without either the key code or a D18 charge, no one was getting out of the engine room anytime soon. A few minutes passed in eerie silence as Jim and Nick stood stock-still and looked back and forth with their flashlights. Nanius simply crouched in the center of the room, his psi blades inactive.

Then everything happened at once.

A gunshot rang out accompanied by a muzzle flash from the gangway that ran across the engine tops. Nanius jumped into the air, making the shot bang off of the floor where he had crouched a second before. In mid-air he activated his psi blades just before coming down on the gangway, causing the metal to rattle and shake.

Another muzzle flash and gunshot combination occurred, this time the point of expanding light was aimed at the pair of bright blue blades floating in the darkness. Jim swung his rifle up into place, allowing its light to illuminate the gangway. In the circle of light Nanius struck out with his psi blades at a thin and agile Terran in Ghost armor.

The Ghost dived backward out of Nanius' reach. In the middle of his backwards dive he leveled his C10 canister rifle and fired, the bullet skimming past Nanius' right arm and deflecting off of his personal plasma shielding.

The much taller Zealot jumped forward, catching up to the Ghost in no time. His first thrust with a psi blade cut through the Ghost's armor and drew blood from his stomach. Instead of backing down, the Terran black ops soldier screamed in rage and rushed Nanius with a psi knife produced from his boot. The blade sliced through the Zealot's plasma shielding and became lodged in the folded armor of his lower chest.

Instead of wasting the time to yank it back out, the smaller fighter slid through Nanius' legs and spun back around with his C10 for a clear shot on the Zealot's unprotected back. A volley of shots sounded from below the gangway, ripping the C10 out of the Ghost's hands and sending it flying, dented, through the air across the engine room.

The Ghost looked down to see Jim and Nick standing, correcting their aims for another volley. At this he wasted no time in jumping off of the gangway and doing a flip around a piece of pipe before letting go and propelling himself toward the top of reactor B.

In mid-air, however, he felt a sudden pain in his lower back. After landing on the top of the reactor, he fell to the ground in agony and felt around his back, instantly finding his own psi knife up to the hilt in his own flesh. He stayed conscious long enough to see Nanius' golden boots land next to his head with a terrific bang, then his face met the neo-steel plating of reactor B.


	58. Chapter 58

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 58: Stuck in the Middle with You**

The Ghost opened his eyes, slowly exposing them to the harsh lighting conditions of the _Shogoki_'s cargo bay. The first thing he saw was Mana standing before him in her power armor with an Impaler aimed at his chest.

"Hey Major? I think our boy here's coming around," she said off to the side, then whispered to the Ghost, "Wake up, you wouldn't want to be asleep for your questioning, now would you?"

"Thank you Mana, you can leave now," Jim said as he walked up and took her place.

"Sure thing Major," Mana replied and left the room.

The door closed behind her and Jim turned to the Ghost.

"So, what's your business on our ship?" he asked.

The Ghost simply looked at him blankly, not saying a word.

"Okay, fine," Jim said, "If you don't want to do it the nice way. Kahn? Come on in."

Kahn stepped into the room; his rifle slung and goggles up on his forehead.

"You called?" he asked.

"Yeah, this guy doesn't want to answer questions. And since you're a fellow Ghost, I figure you know more about interrogations than anybody," Jim said and headed for the door, "Have fun."

The door closed behind him and Kahn turned to the Ghost, who now looked a bit frightened. Kahn smiled as he sat a small case on a nearby crate and opened it up, revealing a set of shiny tools that looked like dental equipment. Humming a bouncy tune to himself, the rouge pirate Ghost moved toward his captive, holding a razor in his hand.

--

Outside the door, Nick and Jim leaned up against a bulkhead, listening to the shouts coming from inside. Jim lit a cigarette and took a puff before offering the pack to Nick, who shook his head no, not that he didn't smoke but that he simply didn't feel like it. Jim shrugged and pushed the pack back into his jacket pocket.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Jim asked.

"Sure," Nick replied, "What is it?"

"As a Reaper, you were originally somewhat more hardcore than a regular criminal, right?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," Nick said.

"What were you?" Jim said, getting to the point.

"I was a serial killer on Tarsonis," Nick answered.

"Did you have a, shit what's the word I'm looking for…" Jim trailed off in thought, allowing a scream to be heard from inside the cargo bay.

"Handle?" Nick suggested.

"Yeah," Jim said, snapping his fingers, "That's it. A handle."

"I used knives and killed sexual predators," Nick said.

Another blood-curdling scream was heard from beyond the door next to them.

"So you were more of a vigilante," Jim said.

"No, no I enjoyed it," Nick corrected.

"Got it," Jim said.

The door opened and Kahn stepped out, his stealth suit covered in blood and with his right hand clenched into a fist.

"Well?" Jim asked, "What did our little visitor have to say?"

"He was under orders from Mengsk to watch a guy named Roth, who was following us in that other ship. If Roth screwed up, which he apparently did, this guy was supposed to go after us, which he obviously did," Kahn explained.

"Roth," Jim said and began walking away in thought.

Nick turned to Kahn. "How'd you get him to talk?" he asked.

Kahn smiled and opened his fist, revealing a bloody ear. "I took his ear and threatened to take out his right eye. After that he was pretty open mouthed about everything."

--

Fifteen minutes later, the _Shogoki _exited warp space. Three minutes after that, an emergency airlock opened and three objects were ejected into space. Two were body bags carrying the bodies of Lieutenant Maya Ibuki and Private Packer. The third was the living form of a captive Ghost, squirming about as he suffocated and screamed silently in the vacuum. Eventually he ran out of air and became still.

On the ship's bridge, Jim stood with Katsuragi and Mana, who decided that she wanted to be there. Sense Jim saw no problem with it, he let her remain in place. Leaning up against the tactics table a few feet away was Nanius, who Jax had thrown out of a poker game for being 'a cheating Protoss bastard'. Since he had no where else to go, he had begun roaming the ship and ended up here, which was the way everyone ended up on the _Shogoki _in the first place.

"Roth? You mean the dickheaded inspector guy from Halcyon? That Roth?" Katsuragi asked.

"I don't know of any other Roth who hates us. So yeah, I'm assuming it's that Roth," Jim replied with a bit more venom than intended.

"Don't bite my damn head off, Jim. I'm just getting clarification," Katsuragi muttered.

"Sorry," Jim replied, "Its just that with both Maya and Packer kicking the bucket the ship's feeling a bit empty at the moment."

Katsuragi sighed, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Looking around this bridge a few years ago, I'd never guess that I'd end up leading it with only one other guy to run the instruments."

"The winds of change blow randomly and without compassion," Nanius said in agreement.

"Beautiful," Mana said.

Jim laughed a bit and pointed out the front view port, where their little Dominion hitchhiker was drifting by, missing an ear and dead.

"Now that's beautiful," he said.

An alarm went off and it hadn't even begun to drone a second note before Katsuragi jumped Hyuga for an explanation.

"I don't know, ma'am! Warp exit signals, all around us! Unknown origin!" he stammered in response.

On the multiple monitors was footage of Battlecruisers coming out of warp space. They weren't colored red, which meant they weren't Dominion. In fact, they didn't even look like a make of Battlecruiser that Katsuragi had seen before. They couldn't be pirate vessels, as they were too clean and new looking. It wasn't until she saw the emblem painted on the side of the nearest vessel that she figured out what faction they belonged too.

"God in heaven," she muttered, "The UED."


	59. Chapter 59

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 59: Second Coming**

The _Shogoki _rested absolutely still, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention to itself in the face of so many Battlecruisers of unknown intent. Around it, the UED ships had finally finished exiting warp space and numbered in at three hundred strong, plus one massive vessel labeled _Epyon_ on its side. It was large enough to house six ships the size of the _Shogoki _and upon entering normal space had coughed up hordes of nimble Viking attack aircraft.

A squadron of the morphing fighters circled the _Shogoki_, ready at any moment to turn it into a molten cluster of debris and dead bodies. On the bridge, everyone held his or her collective breath. The alarm had been shut off, as after the danger was apparent it had quickly become annoying. They remained like this for six minutes before Hyuga broke the silence.

"Ma'am and sir: we are being hailed," he said.

Katsuragi looked to Jim, who nodded, before nodding to Hyuga. The spectacled helmsman routed the hail to the main screen, which flickered to life, revealing a silver-haired man in a standard UED dress uniform. His chin was very pronounced; coming to a point only achieved by certain old-Earth talk show hosts.

"This is the United Earth Directorate 7th Fleet flagship, the Star Base _Epyon_. I am Vice Admiral Kozo Fuyutski. Identify yourselves," he said.

"Fuyutski? As in Captain Fuyutski from the Academy?" Katsuragi asked.

The man was taken aback by this, as he physically moved away from the screen in surprise. "Yes, I did teach at the Academy when I was a Captain, but you seem to have me at a disadvantage," he replied.

"Its Katsuragi, sir. Cadet Misato Katsuragi," Katsuragi told him.

"My God! Katsuragi!" he said, "I had heard you were going out with the first force, but I had no idea you were still alive!"

"Yes sir. We managed to hold this old bucket of bolts together long enough to get out from Char in one piece," she said, "But what are you doing here, sir?"

Jim shifted uncomfortably as Katsuragi and the Vice Admiral continued chatting like old friends. He didn't like how she was all of the sudden so friendly with the UED. He knew she was originally one of them, but somewhere along the way he categorized her as an honorary Terran Colonist. Now that he thought about it, how would Nanius react if the Protoss showed up? Or Jax if somehow the remains of the Confederacy popped out of nowhere?

Suddenly Jim felt a lot less secure about who he served with on the _Shogoki_.

Calmly, he activated his earpiece and sent out a ship-wide message, "We just made contact with UED forces. So far everything's going good. But we're on thin ice at this point, so get jacked up just in case we break through. Out."

After giving the order, he saw both Nanius and Mana fall out of the bridge at brisk walks, headed off to get their squads together. Once they were gone, Katsuragi turned to Jim from the conversation she was having.

"Jim, they want us to come aboard their flagship," she said, then lowered her voice, "They're cool. I know the Vice Admiral personally. We go way back, he wouldn't try anything."

"They wouldn't have to _try_, Katsuragi," Jim said, "I'm no expert in zero-gee space combat, but I do know that they could splatter us all over the sector with that kind of firepower."

"They're going after the Zerg," she pointed out.

"Tell them to send over a shuttle," Jim said, cutting off the end of 'Zerg'.

"No Jim," she said, "They want us to come aboard. Meaning the whole ship."

"Well how the hell do we do that?" he asked.

--

Kyrtas stood and watched through a view port the _Shogoki _drift into the _Epyon_ Star Base's cosmic-sized hanger bay. The UED Star Base was as almost as large as a Mothership and it actually gave him a bit of worry at the thought of it detecting the cloaked ship he was in, but only a bit.

"So," a voice crooned from behind him, "Do you doubt my powers of prediction now, Kyrtas?"

Kyrtas shook his head. "I have never doubted them. It was just that-" he began.

"Answer the question," the voice said simply.

Turning, Kyrtas faced the cloaked speaker head on. "No, I do not doubt them now."

"I am pleased to hear that. Keep an eye on their actions, and when they jump to Tarsonis I want to be hot on their heels."

"Absolutely," Kyrtas replied.

The cloaked figure left the observation room to return to its quarters for further meditation. Now alone, Kyrtas let out all of his anger.

"You outsider brat! How dare the great Praetor, in his awesome power, give you command of this fine vessel and its noble crew! You are not one of the night! You are but an imposter, manufactured out of fakery!" Kyrtas stopped himself and brought composure back into his being, "However, I will obey if that is the Praetor's decision."

Without another word, he turned to continue watching the UED's activities below.


	60. Chapter 60

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 60: Epyon**

Jim stepped off of the _Shogoki_'s invasion ramp wearing his CMC combat armor and looked out across the massive hanger bay they were now in. Three more light Battlecruisers like theirs were resting within it as a full battalion of suited UED Marines walked about on patrol, their angular newer model suits shining in the harsh lighting conditions.

They carried not Impaler rifles as the Dogs of War did, but carried large tri-barreled Chain Cannons attached to ammo supplies in their backpacks. A Siege Tank rumbled past them, its exhaust belching clean, smog free gases. This place definitely wasn't what the crew of the battered newly arrived Battlecruiser was used to.

A small security force of Marines came to a stop next to Jim, Katsuragi, Nanius and Mana. The leader of it, a younger looking sergeant, stepped forward and looked to Jim.

"You and your officers are requested in the Admiral's office immediately," he said, "Follow us."

As they started off across the bay, the security team moved into flanking positions around the group, making sure that if they tried something they wouldn't get far. Jim noticed that in flanking from both sides they even staggered their positions to avoid cutting each other apart with the heavy Chain Cannons they carried.

Looking around his landing party of sorts, Jim recalled why he had brought them with him. Katsuragi was UED, so he knew that she talked their talk and if necessary could walk their walk. Besides, he wanted to keep an eye on how she interacted with them.

Mana was there because he had seen her in combat and knew what she was capable of doing. If shit went south, she could be of help. The more and more he spent time with her; the more and more he began to like her personality and how she handled things. Jim knew he could count on her.

Nanius, simply put, could read minds. He was Protoss. They were Terran. It was how things worked, and if these guys felt an urge to bring out their backstabbing knives, Jim wanted to know about it ahead of time. As a bonus, Nanius was more than proficient in combat.

By now they were in an elevator headed upward to the Admiral's office fast enough to make Jim's stomach sink in his gut. After a two-minute ride the doors opened, revealing an office twice as large as the _Shogoki's _bridge. A window ran around the rectangular perimeter of the office, showing the open space beyond as well as the massive fleet that the ship presided over. Below the windows, Jim could see heavy slabs of metal on lifts, probably for protection during a battle.

The security team fanned out along one wall and stood at attention, their weapons pointed at the ground but still in the general direction of the Dogs of War four-person party. Across the office from them was a desk, and behind it two men: one sitting and one standing. The standing man stepped around the desk and strode across the large expanse, his black dress shoes clicking on the hardwood floor.

Katsuragi met him halfway and shook his hand. He was positively beaming with pride.

"I'm amazed you're alive," he said, "Simply amazed."

"Thank you sir, but it wasn't really anything special. We simply chose to get the hell out of there when Kerrigan's forces showed up and wiped out the rest of the fleet," she said.

"You're being modest," Fuyutski said.

"Maybe I am," Katsuragi conceited, then changed the subject to the two people and lone Protoss with her, "These are my comrades: Major Jim Goss, Sergeant Mana Kirishima and Nanius."

Fuyutski shook hands with all three of them, not even hesitating at Nanius, which surprised everyone considering the UED's last invasion goals, one of which was the destruction of the Protoss empire.

"Are you still ranked at Captain?" Fuyutski asked Katsuragi.

"Yes," she replied.

"So," Fuyutski turned to Jim, "You're her superior."

"Not exactly," Jim began, "I'm above her in rank, technically, but leadership over the ship is sort of split down the middle. You see, I don't know the first thing about space combat, so Katsuragi takes care of that. When it comes to ground combat, our roles are reversed. Make sense?"

"Yes, but why aren't you both the same rank then?" Fuyutski asked.

Katsuragi answered, "Well, he also knows the sector much better than I do and can figure out the overall strategy better than I can."

Finally, the seated man spoke. "Pathetic. An Earth-born taking orders from a colonist. Absolutely pathetic," he boomed.

"Last time I checked we're from the same damn gene code," Jim snapped at the shaded figure, "Besides, I seem to remember us colonists kicking your Earth-born asses out of the sector."

The security team pulled their chain cannons up into place, the three barrels on each loading bullets into their breeches. Mana responded by bringing her Impaler up in the direction of the security team while a whoosh signaled Nanius activating his psi-blades. Jim yanked his flak pistol out of its holster with one hand and grabbed Fuyutski around the throat with the other, his armored hand encircling the older man's neck easily.

He pressed the barrel into Fuyutski's forehead and locked eyes with him.

"Okay, tell the boys to drop it or I'm taking his head off," Jim told the man behind the desk without taking his eyes off his hostage.

A minute passed of everyone pointing automatic weapons at each other before the silence was broken by the same deep voice from earlier spoke again.

"Maybe I have been premature in the judgement of your people," it said, "Very well. Sergeant take your men and leave."

With only a moment's hesitation, the security team filed out of the office. Nanius collapsed his blades and Mana lowered her rifle. Jim held his gaze with Fuyutski for a moment longer before dropping his pistol to his side and looking away. He saw Katsuragi putting her own sidearm back into her uniform jacket, taking it away from being pointed at the man behind the desk.

Smiling, Jim realized that no matter what she was still with them.


	61. Chapter 61

**Author's Note: Wow, interest in this series has really peeked. Thanks for all the awesome, positive reviews and PMs I've gotten. So in this update something very pivotal happens. Wait, something pivotal happens in every update...oh well. Here it is, and keep on giving me your thoughts on this please. They really do help.**

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 61: Military Adviser**

"Well," Jim said to the man behind the desk, "Now that we've nearly killed each other, maybe its time we had some introductions."

"Indeed. My name is Fleet Admiral Gendo Rokubungi," the man said, standing to shake Jim's hand.

Jim pressed his armored glove to bare flesh and shook. "I'm Major Jim Goss," he said.

"Good to meet you, Major. And I can see that you've already met my second in command quite closely," Gendo said.

Jim turned to Fuyutski. "No hard feelings, right?"

The older Vice Admiral shook his head no, and Jim turned back to Gendo.

"You brought us aboard to talk about something. Care to get to the bottom of it?" he asked.

"I'll put it to you plainly, Major, our job is to eradicate the Zerg. That is our only objective this time around. No more, no less. However in order to do that we need certain things. For one, we need to know where they are, because they aren't on Char anymore," Gendo said.

"Tarsonis," Jim said.

"The former Confederate homeworld?" Fuyutski asked.

"The one and only. They moved there shortly after your first attempt. I've been there myself, picked up a little piece of equipment that might help you all out," Jim said.

Gendo's eyebrows shot up. "Oh really?" he asked.

"Yeah, really," Jim said, "Its called the Relay Disrupter. Bunch of liquid that when injected into the head of the Zerg, or the Queen of Blades, would cause her to evolve the swarm into an unworkable mess."

"The ultimate in chemical warfare," Gendo muttered.

"Pretty much," Katsuragi put in, "We have a weapon that can be used to perform the injection."

"We'll tag along if you don't mind," Jim told the Fleet Admiral, "We've been waiting to get at the Zerg for a while."

Gendo looked to Fuyutski and they exchanged glances before he finally looked back to Jim. "I don't see why not. But I would like you to help out with something first, just so we know we can trust you."

"What's that?" Jim asked.

--

Ten minutes later, Jim entered the _Shogoki_ with one more person than he had left with. To his credit, Vice Admiral Fuyutski didn't look too happy to be there either, but he was under orders, so he couldn't do anything about it. Just as Jim entered he was greeted by Nick, who was wearing his Reaper armor minus the jumpjets .

"Hey Jim, wait, what the hell?" he said as greeting.

"Yeah," Jim sighed, "Nick, this is Vice Admiral Fuyutski. He's observing us on this next little assignment. Fuyutski, this is Sergeant McCabe, the head of 2nd Squad."

"Hello," Fuyutski said and extended his hand.

"Fuck off," Nick said, then turned to Jim, "Kahn's been tinkering. He's got the BOSUN capable of firing an injection needle filled with Disrupter fluid. He tested it earlier, dry of course."

"And?" Jim asked.

"Jax's left ass cheek's in a bit of pain," Nick said, unable to contain his smile.

"Jesus," Jim muttered, laughing a bit himself.

"So what's with this assignment?" Nick asked.

"I'm gonna hold a briefing in the cargo bay. Get the troops together in twelve minutes," Jim said.

Nick nodded and took off down the hallway just as Jim turned to Nanius.

"Nanius, get the Vice Admiral a room please," he said.

"Yes Major," the Protoss warrior rumbled.

As Nanius led Fuyutski down the corridor, Jim hopped in the elevator with Katsuragi and Mana. Once the doors closed, Jim pulled his helmet off and latched it to a magnetic plate on his thigh before taking off his gloves. Mana began to do the same thing while Katsuragi watched them both.

"What are you two doing?" she asked finally.

"Getting out of our suits," Mana replied.

"Yes I see that, but why?" Katsuragi asked.

"So that when we get off on the bunk floor we'll be ready to store them immediately," Jim said, "It saves time."

"Whatever," Katsuragi said as the elevator came to a stop on C Deck.

Mana stepped off and headed to her bunk room, but Jim stayed behind for a second. "Hey, thanks for everything," he said.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"I mean, thanks for everything. I never thanked you for everything you've done. Thanks," he said.

"Yeah, no problem," she managed.

Jim turned and left the elevator, allowing the doors to close. The elevator groaned and continued on its way to the bridge. Jim entered his cabin and pulled off his remaining armor, changing from combat mode to relaxed mode in thirty seconds flat. He exited his cabin in his battered leather jacket and jeans and headed back toward the elevator.

Standing next to the door was Mana, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. By the status of the button light next to her, she had already called the elevator and it was on its way. Jim came to a stop next to her, hands in his jacket pockets. They waited in silence for a bit before Mana broke it with a question.

"Sir, what happened to you?" she asked.

"How do you mean, sergeant?" he shot back.

"I heard that you went AWOL on Mar Sara," she said, "What happened?"

"Who the hell told you that?" Jim snapped.

"It was just going around the poker table," she said.

"I bet it was Jax, wasn't it," Jim said, "That fucking redneck. Never could get over that I was just busted back to Private instead of kicked out."

"Yes, it was Jax," she said.

"I knew it," Jim sighed, "You really want to know what happened?"

"Yes," Mana replied.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Jim said, and then thought to add, "But only because I think you experienced something similar in your own career and because I like you."


	62. Chapter 62

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 62: The Doomsday Device**

"Sir! Second squad is coming to reinforce us! ETA four minutes!" shouted Corporal Marshall over the alien shrieks coming from the horde assaulting the trench they were in.

Fourth squad's leader, Sergeant Jim Goss, turned in his white Confederate Alpha Squadron armor and looked at Marshall. "Four minutes?" he shouted.

"Yes sir! Four minutes!" Marshall repeated.

"We'll be dead in four minutes, Marshall!" Jim shouted, "We're getting the hell out of here!"

More of the alien Zerg rushed the trench, their small bodies withering and falling under the barrage of fire from 4th Squad's ten soldiers. It had gone on like this for three hours: the Zerg rushing and the Marines beating them back with a hail of bullets from their Gauss Impaler rifles. It seemed as though the more Zerg died, the more Zerg crawled out of Mar Sara's crust to come after them.

"Fourth Squad! Fall back to the Vultures!" Jim shouted and hopped up out of the trench in the opposite direction that the Zerg were coming from.

"Sir we are not allowed to abandon our-" Marshall was cut off when six Zerg breached the line and mobbed him, cutting through his armor with their claws and sheering off limbs.

Jim ran to his Vulture attack bike and slid his Impaler into a rack on its rear just above the propulsion engine. He got on the saddle and started it up, causing it to elevate above the ground into a hover. Jim gunned the throttle and took off across the wastelands, dust shooting up in his wake. Around him he could see sporadic firefights taking place between Terran forces and the Zerg, with the tide generally leaning to the side of the aliens.

Jim ignored them, heading toward the only place he cared about: his home.

--

"Did you ever get there?" Mana asked.

"Yeah," Jim said.

"And?"

"They were all dead, okay? You happy? That's what happened. I went AWOL to save my family and they were all dead. I got busted back to private and stayed with Duke until New Gettysburg where I joined Raynor. I stuck with him for a while and then started the organization I'm leading now," Jim explained, "Don't ever ask me about that again, you hear?"

"Sure Jim. Whatever you say," she said, "Do you mind if I call you Jim?"

"I don't give a damn," Jim said and got on the elevator that had finally shown up.

--

Jim and Mana entered the cargo bay to find that everyone had sorted himself or herself out in the informal organization that every briefing followed: squad leaders up against the Jackal and everyone else sitting on the weapons crates. Mana walked over to the Jackal while Jim stepped up next to Fuyutski in front of the assembly.

"Okay shitheads, listen up! This is Vice Admiral Fuyutski. He's with the UED and will be our military adviser for this mission. Please give him your full attention," Jim said and walked over to the Jackal.

He leaned up against the front bumper next to Mana and nudged her with his elbow. She looked up at him and followed his gaze to the crates, where Jax was wiping a piece of snot on Kahn's back as the Ghost made out with Ayanami. Mana tried to suppress a giggle, failed, and ended up making a sort of snorting noise, much to the humor of Jim and the other noncoms.

"Shut up!" she urged, punching Jim in the shoulder to get him to stop laughing at her.

"Ow," Jim deadpanned, "That hurt. I think I'm gonna cry."

Mana broke out laughing, attracting the attention of all the troops sitting on the crates.

"Pay attention to the Vice Admiral!" Jim boomed, and the men turned back to Fuyutski.

"Thank you, Major," Fuyutski said, beginning his briefing, "In order to stage our overall goal of eradicating the Zerg, we require a piece of equipment developed by the former Terran Confederacy. It's called 'the Mercer Doomsday Device' and its purpose is, simply put, destroying whole planets."

"Fucking-A," Miller muttered.

If Fuyutski heard Miller, he didn't show it. "The only problem is that we don't have it. It's in a Confederate facility on the planet Trebuchet. We're not sure what's on the planet, so this will require a bit of recon work."

"No intelligence? Typical UED, I'll bet," said Private Parker.

"Fuck you, man!" shouted Jones.

"Oh, fuck me?" asked Parker, "Let's go, Earth-born!"

The two privates jumped on each other and began a punching, kicking, ear biting brawl that went on for thirty seconds before Nanius and Kahn pulled the two off each other. Once they had finally calmed down, Jim took action.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, "Parker, you don't know the first thing about what's 'typical UED'. Jones, it isn't my express job to get on your case, but seriously, lay the fuck off him! Parker's an idiot! Quit taking what he says seriously. Now shake hands and be friends."

The two soldiers reluctantly shook hands.

"Good," Jim said, "Fuyutski, if you have anything else to say now's the time."

The gray haired navy man shook his head no.

"Even better. Okay people, fall out!" Jim said.

His earpiece crackled to life, injecting Katsuragi's voice into his ear.

_"We're heading into warp now."_

"Good. The sooner the better," Jim answered.


	63. Chapter 63

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 63: Lessons in Chess**

"Colonel Roth!" shouted Lieutenant Commander Davis as she burst into Roth's cabin.

Roth, who had been busy writing a report as to why he had failed to kill the _Shogoki_, practically jumped a foot into the air at the sudden noise.

"Jesus Christ, Davis! Knock! Knock on my door next time!" he yelped.

"I apologize sir!" she said in embarrassment.

Roth took a moment to compose himself and readjust his eye patch so that it was once again hiding his missing piece of sensory equipment from view.

"Now what is it Davis?" he asked.

"Sir, we have received word from the mole," Davis said.

"And? What did the mole say?" Roth pressed.

"The Dogs of War have made contact with a UED invasion fleet, coordinates were attached, and they are now on an important mission to retrieve a weapon for the UED's invasion of Tarsonis called 'the Mercer Doomsday Device'. They are retrieving it from an old Confederate facility on Trebuchet," Davis reported.

"God damnit," Roth muttered.

"What should we do, Colonel?" Davis asked.

"Lay in a course for Trebuchet. I'll contact the Emperor and inform him of the UED's arrival. Do you have those coordinates?"

"Yes sir," Davis said and handed Roth a data-pad with the coordinates for the UED fleet on it.

"Thanks," he said and turned away, "That'll be all, Commander."

"Yes sir," Davis said and left the cabin.

Sighing, Roth turned on his vid screen. He had to tell Mengsk about this.

--

"No, no, no. You simply can't do that," Kahn said, moving the white pawn back from where it had advanced clear across the board in one movement.

"Well why not?" Jax whined.

"Because that's not how chess is played," Kahn instructed as he would a child.

"Isn't chess supposed to be like a war?" Jax asked.

"I suppose," Kahn conceded.

"Well its really bad at it. In real war, people don't move in certain ways. They can run, jump, duck, dive and dig trenches, not to mention shoot at things from a long way away," Jax said, gesturing angrily at the board in front of him.

Kahn's mouth opened and closed several times, but nothing came out. Instead he sighed, shaking his head in defeat. "Okay Jax," he said, "I'll give you that one."

"Thank you John," Jax said, taking a drink from his flask of whiskey.

Kahn turned to Ayanami. "Did he actually just forget my name?" he asked.

"McCabe and I have a theory," Ayanami explained, "That whenever Jax says something remotely intelligent, God takes his next statement and fucks it up completely to compensate."

"Ah, that makes sense," Kahn said, nodding.

Ayanami sat down a blood test sample she was working on and turned to Kahn. "Really? Because everyone else I've said it too thinks I'm nuts."

Kahn stood up and placed his hands on her hips, giving her a slight kiss on the cheek. "I don't think you're nuts," he reassured her.

"Well that's good," she mumbled, falling into a passionate kiss.

Just before their lips touched, however, the intercom clicked on and Jim's voice cut into the medical bay.

_"Master Sergeant Kahn report to cargo bay immediately for demonstration of Disrupter delivery system."_

Kahn sighed, his shoulders slumping and his forehead connecting gently with that of his blue-haired companion. She lifted his chin with a finger and locked eyes with him, and smiled.

"I'll be right here when you're done," she whispered.

"I'm glad," he replied.

"And so will I!" Jax said happily from his seat at the table behind Kahn.

"Jax, I heard that McCabe wanted to talk to you," Kahn told him.

Jax jumped up and ran out of the medical bay, running straight into Nick, who was just entering with a full cup of coffee. The two men smashed to the ground, the hot brown beverage spilling across the floor in the process.

"Nick! Nick! Nick! I heard you wanted to talk to me!" Jax shouted.

Nick looked at Jax for a moment, then to Kahn, before finally settling on Ayanami. "Could I get a towel please?" he asked in the calmest voice possible.

Kahn laughed and headed out of the medical bay down the corridor.


	64. Chapter 64

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 64: BOSUN the Destroyer**

Shortly before its downfall, the Confederacy of Man began a prototype Battlecruiser program. The purpose behind it was too create a series of ships that could do all of the things a normal Behemoth-class vessel could do, but on a smaller scale. After many different design rejections, three ships were manufactured.

Out of those three, one was destroyed in a Sons of Korhal attack, another was lost in Captain Raynor's invasion of Char, and the third was captured by the Dominion and put into storage in the Dylarian Shipyards. Here, it was commandeered by the UED during their failed first invasion. It was handed over to a young, intelligent commanding officer.

During the retreat from Char, it and its new crew fled to Braxis where it sat for a long time before being run across by a rag-tag band of rebels. Along the way, the _Shogoki_ had become a cosmic shambles of different parts. Its Yamato cannon was a bit to long for it and the barrel's end hung out the front, both an eyesore as much as a proclamation to move if you were in the way.

Its missile turrets were UED standard issue. The invasion ramp was an improvised add-on made during the ship's time on Braxis for a project during the crew's down time. In a fit of what could only be described as divine inspiration, the Confederate designers put a massive window at the head of the bridge. It was a beautiful view, if one could get over the image of a Scourge using it as a straight shot into the nerve center of the ship.

However, as Kahn entered the cargo bay, he noticed an exceedingly smart addition to the ship: a blast door that was an additional two feet of Neo-steel thick. He stepped past and the door slid shut behind him noisily. Standing next to his workbench in the corner of the massive room was Jim, Fuyutski and the two of the three-squad leaders.

"Where's Nick?" Jim asked him as he approached.

"He had a brief…run in, with Jax. I'm sure he'll be along shortly," Kahn said.

"Good. We'll begin without him," Jim said, gesturing at the modified BOSUN XFN-92 sniper's rifle on the table in front of them.

Kahn picked the weapon up and pointed out the rifle's normal features. Fuyutski paid rapt attention but Jim, who had been there when the rifle was purchased, didn't pay much attention. About halfway through his explanation, Nick entered the cargo bay and strode over to their position, taking up a spot next to Kahn.

Just about then, Kahn began his presentation on the modifications, which was what they had met there to talk about in the first place.

"This is an injection shell made from a spare fuel injection rod I found for the Jackal. It was the only device I could find with enough power to punch an injector through Zerg carapace. It'll be able to shove sixteen gallons of disrupter fluid into Kerrigan at a range of one mile," he explained, hefting the weighty device with once gloved hand.

"Jesus Christ," Mana muttered.

"I was expecting something a bit more," Nick searched for the right word, "Medical."

"Nah," Jim said, "Screw that. Fuel injection rod."

Fuyutski nodded. "This is good. This is very good," was all he said.

--

Jim's communicator went off as he was headed up to the bridge. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it to his ear, clicking the 'talk' button as he did so.

"Yes?" he asked whoever was on the other end.

_"Jim, you have a call. It's Raynor," _Katsuragi said with a sigh.

"Got it. I'll take it in my cabin," he replied and hung up.

Jim stepped into his cabin and sat down on the bed, from where he could do pretty much everything there was to do in the room from open the door to flip off the light to access his desk terminal. This used to be the first mate's quarters, but since he was dead Jim had commandeered the space. It was tiny, but at least he had it all to himself.

Tapping twice on a blinking icon in the lower right hand corner of his terminal screen, Jim saw Raynor's face fill the screen. The former Marshal was standing on the _Hyperion's _bridge and behind him Jim could see Matt Horner and many other officers moving about, working like bees.

"Good to see you, Jim," Raynor said.

"Ditto," Jim replied, "What's up, Marshall?"

"I heard you have my Ghost," Raynor said.

Jim nodded. "Yup. And I'm not giving him back," he said jokingly.

Raynor laughed. "Okay, son. Whatever you say, but hey, got a little proposition for you."

"What's that?" Jim asked.

"I was talking with Mike the other day-"

"Fuck," Jim muttered.

"Oh what is it now?" Raynor groaned.

"I don't really like the press," Jim answered.

"You don't like the Dominion, the Confederates, the Conclave, the Dark Templar, the Zerg, the UED and now the press," Raynor said, "Jim, if you want to survive you have to team up with somebody sometime. It's the way of the Sector."

"I could say something about how that tends to turn out, but I won't," Jim said.

"Anyway," Raynor continued, "I was talking to Mike and we got on the topic of you and your outfit. See, Mike's got this new network set up-"

"LNN. Yeah I heard," Jim said.

"And he's got this new reporter who he's real excited about. He wants to know if you'd be opposed to letting this kid tag along and do some stories on your adventures and what not," Raynor said.

"No," Jim said without thinking.

"Samuel J Houston on a bicycle, Jim!" Raynor cursed, "Why the hell not?"

"He'd get in the way," Jim answered.

"There's money involved," Raynor teased.

"Fuck you," Jim said, then asked, "How much?"

"Mike can write a whole lot of numbers down on a check, Jim," Raynor replied.

Jim new that, and as much as he hated it, he had fallen into Raynor's trap.

"Fine. We'll pick him up on our way back from this op. What's this kid's name?"

"Aida. Kensuke Aida."


	65. Chapter 65

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 65: Operation Trebuchet**

Jim stood next to the dropship in his armor. In his right hand he clutched his C14 Impaler rifle, and in his left he held his ballistic combat shield. Before him a select team filed into the big red form of the dropship. In order for the plan to steal the Mercer Doomsday Device to go as planned, two teams had to assault the former Confederate compound on Trebuchet.

One of these teams consisted of Jim, Nick, Mana and Jones. Their job was to infiltrate the compound from a service entrance in the back, while the much larger second team assaulted the front with the assistance of the Jackal and both Wraiths. The Shogoki and its invasion ramp would move that team into position while the dropship transported Jim's team.

They had dropped out of warp ten minutes ago and Jim was just about to give the go ahead to descend to the planet when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning, he saw Vice Admiral Fuyutski standing before him in white and brown UED combat power armor.

"What, you want a part or something?" Jim asked.

"Well, I am supposed to be an observer," Fuyutski said.

"You come with us and you'll be a fucking dead observer," Jim snapped.

The old silver-haired Admiral smiled, a thin crease turning its ends up, really. "Major, I can hold my own," he assured Jim.

Finally, Jim shrugged in defeat. "Fine," he said, "But it's your funeral."

Fuyutski followed Jim onto the dropship, hefting a huge sidearm twice as big as Jim's flak pistol. The ramp closed and the engines flared, lifting the craft up off the deck. The bay depressurized and Flyboy gunned the dropship into space.

--

Roth stood inside of a dark hallway next to a tattered flag orange flag, a remnant of the Confederacy's now defunct Omega Squadron. His CMC 300 armor encased him fully and allowed him to heft the huge Impaler he carried with one hand. Next to him stood Davis, who was quietly talking on her COM link to the team outside the installation.

After a minute, she turned to him. "Colonel," she said, "The observation post has confirmed it: the enemy is here. They're coming down with a dropship and the full cruiser, sir."

"Where's the dropship going?" he asked.

"The south entrance sir. The cruiser itself is headed for a landing at the base of the pass," Davis reported.

"Good. Head down to the pass yourself. Make sure nothing goes wrong," Roth told her.

"Yes Colonel!" Davis replied and barreled off down the corridor, her heavy boots clanging on the steel grating as she went.

"Sergeant Stacker!" Roth barked to the second person standing with him.

"Yes sir!" Stacker said, stiffening to attention.

"Get your squad prepared for an intrusion from the south entrance," Roth said.

"Where should I post the men, sir?" Stacker asked.

Roth sighed and wondered why he had to spell things out for everyone. In irritation, he picked up a holographic clipboard and tapped its screen twice with his steel-shod hand. A topographical overview of the installation they were currently flickered onto the screen, shining brightly and casting a green glow over both Stacker and Roth's facial features.

The entire south entrance formed a T, with the entrance being at the top center. Roth pointed to the hallways extending off of the entrance.

"Post men here on both sides," he said, then pointed at the main hallway, "And then post some here to hit them from the front. Got it?"

Stacker hesitated, a look of uncertainty on his face. "Sir, what if they get past us?" he asked.

"They wont. And even if they do, I'll be right where they're going," Roth assured the sergeant.

"Got it sir," Stacker said, made a brief salute and headed off to gather his forces.

Roth shook his head and headed off in the opposite direction. He walked down a ramped hallway, around a corner, and into a small corridor. At the back of the corridor was a heavy steel door, and beyond that was the Mercer Doomsday Device that his opponent so desperately coveted. Positioning himself just to the right of the door, giving him an angle on whatever wanted to come around that corner.

Roth was ready, and as he stood in the silent blackness, he touched the black patch over his eye. Revenge would be his; it was only a matter of time. Quietly, he slid his visor down into place.

--

Jim jumped off of the dropship. It was night on Trebuchet, and around him the world was green through the night vision filter in his suit's visor. With a few quick hand signals he got his five-man team moving for the south entrance door. Behind them, Flyboy lifted off and headed back into the sky. Mana slid up to the keypad lock on the door and attached a wire into one of its ports, creating a hard line to her suit.

"Let's see if we can't get a tune out of this trombone," she muttered to herself.

As Mana began hacking the lock on the heavy blast door, Jim turned on his COM link to Nanius, who was leading the main assault/distraction force.

"Team One to Team Two, come in," Jim said.

_"This is Team Two," _Nanius rumbled, _"Proceed, Major."_

"We're at the back door and will be heading in shortly. What's your status, over."

_"We are en route to the front entrance from the landing zone. Proceeding up main pass. Encountering no resistance as of ye-"_

Nanius was cut off by the sound of a Crucio Siege Tank firing. An instant later, Jim heard the thunderous boom of the shell going off.

"Nanius! Nanius are you okay!?" Jim shouted into his mic.


	66. Chapter 66

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 66: Blood in the Front**

Trebuchet was originally founded by the Confederacy during a period of rapid expansion into the Fringe Worlds. It wasn't a big world, even back then. But after a tragic incident involving the miss-guiding of an Apocalypse missile during a weapons test, the planet's overall size decreased by thirty percent. Thus its weather patterns shifted, making farming impossible and the Confederacy reduced the nuke-blasted barren world to yet another weapons development world.

These facts, however important they were to the history of the planet, were at the very back of Sergeant Nanius' mind at the moment. For at the moment, he was busy trying to force his body as low to the ground as was humanly possible. The Siege Tank's first shot had exploded against the right side of the pass he had been leading his men up, scattering limestone rocks, dirt and a concussive wave over the frontal assault team.

_"Nanius!" _came Jim's voice, _"Nanius are you okay!?"_

"Open fire!" a loud, female voice shouted from over the ridge to his left.

Men popped over the pass's two sides, all wearing armor that glistened faintly red in the moonlight, signifying them as Dominion marines. The marines opened fire, sending a hail of 8mm spikes down into the cowering men below. Nanius rolled to the right, sliding up next to a boulder, thus giving him protection from one angle of fire.

Around him, men cried out in pain as rounds tore them to pieces. Nanius watched as Private Close as rounds stabbed through his back and pinned him to the ground, holding him still as even more rounds smashed into his body, jerking his arms and legs around like he was a rag doll.

Private Dillon McLees tried to stand up in the fire, shooting back at the attackers with his own Impaler. A round crashed through his visor and blew out the back of his head. As his body fell, a rocket smashed into it and blew him apart in a bloody mess.

The rest of the assault force hit the ground, covering their heads with their hands. Eventually, the attackers ran out of ammo and stopped to reload, giving Nanius' men the break they so desperately needed.

"Return fire!" Nanius bellowed, standing and activating his psi blades.

The second man up was Kahn, holding his C20 in both hands. The Ghost spun toward the right-side ridge and fired three times, all three smashing into his target's chest. The Dominion marine toppled over backward, his chest cavity blown open from the barrage. Kahn shifted his aim and fired again, this time a single round that hit his target in the head and blew his brains out in a spray mixed with reflective bits of glass from his visor.

Finally, the rest of the Dogs got to their feet and fired on their opponents, driving them back into cover. Those who reacted to slowly received volleys of un-inhibited spikes for their mistake.

"We've got to get out of this choke!" Kahn shouted over the gunfire.

"Agreed!" Nanius said, "Men, advance forward!"

Screaming a non-understandable war cry, the Dogs charged up the pass. At the head of the formation was a Firebat named Manny, who just as he reached the rim of the pass caught a 90mm tank round to the body. The ensuing explosion smothered the men behind Manny with dirt, but they didn't stop running. If anything, the death of a comrade only served to make them run harder.

Nanius reached the top and instantly took in the scene. The entrance to the complex sat across an open area from him as a squat bunker-like building. In front of it was a Crucio Siege Tank. Its piles weren't down and its twin 90mm guns were out instead. His men were scattered in front of the tank raining rockets into its side from their rifle's launchers. Behind them, on the sides of the pass, were the Dominion marines responsible for the ambush.

"What should we do?" Kahn asked.

"You take the left side. I'll take the right," Nanius replied, bringing his psi blades up to bare.

As if punctuating the Protoss' sentence, the Siege Tank exploded from one too many rockets being pumped into its flank.

Kahn nodded and ran toward the left side of the pass, his C20 barking as he ran. Nanius ran forth into the right side and jumped high into the air, angling toward a group of enemies in the process. The marines turned toward him, their Impalers coming around to rip him to shreds. Nanius landed on one man, smashing into the ground.

He took a psi blade and stabbed it through the man's heart, killing him instantly. Then he stood up in the center of the group he had landed in. They all took aim and fired, but it was already too late: the Zealot had moved out of their aim. The spikes, however, continued on the journeys that they had set out on and ended up hitting friendly soldiers instead of the target they had been intended for.

One marine survived the friendly fire just long enough for Nanius to stab him in the spine with a blue blade of fire.

"Get him!" the same female voice from before ordered from behind Nanius.

He heard Impalers coming up into place and wheeled around on his enemies, holding his new meat shield in front of him. Spikes jerked the body in his grasp for a full thirty seconds, then the firing ceased. Nanius threw the heavy suited corpse over the edge of the ridge like it was made of tin foil and faced his reloading targets with nothing between him and them but air.

In a flash of movement, he attacked, severing limbs and taking lives as easily as was possible against defenseless enemies. One marine threw his Impaler at Nanius, who simply cleaved the unloaded piece of metal in half before stabbing his opponent in the stomach and lifting him like that up into the night air.

A few seconds later and the last marine smashed face first into the ground, leaving only the female commanding officer standing. She held a slug thrower in one hand, pointing it at Nanius' head.

"Step back! Step back or I'll shoot!" she shouted.

Nanius ignored her and continued to steadily walk forward. She fired rapidly, the low-caliber projectiles glancing off of Nanius' personal body shields. The Protoss warrior stepped up to her and grasped his right claw around her throat, breaking through her visor in the process. Bits of glass cut into her face, drawing blood that streaked down her cheeks like red tears.

She struggled to free herself, kicking her legs around in the dirt and banging her boots against his shin guards. Calmly, Nanius plunged his free psi blade into her left eye. It made contact with her brain and immediately her legs stopped kicking. He let go of her and she fell, her skull slicing itself open on the psi blade as gravity did its job.

_"Nanius! Report!" _Jim shouted over the COM channel.

"Front is clear," Nanius replied as he watched Kahn slice the throat of the last marine on the other side of the pass, "You may proceed."


	67. Chapter 67

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 67: Luger Special**

"Got it!" Mana chirped as the blast door rumbled open.

Jones was the first man to step inside, and immediately was fired upon from the left, the right, and the front. Due to either luck or incredibly bad aiming, he managed to jump back out and to the right, taking cover next to the open doorway without being hit. A few straggler spikes were fired and then the south entrance was silent once more.

Jim popped his visor up and spat in the dirt, then slid it back down, returning the night vision to his eyes. Within the structure it was even darker than outside and even without night vision, the enemies would be able to see them from how the moonlight silhouetted them.

"Jones," Jim asked, "Where are they?"

Jones looked over at Jim, eyes wide. It was clear he had just injected himself with a stim pack.

"Two to the left, two to the right, and four in front," said Jones.

Jim nodded and tapped Nick on the shoulder.

"Huh?" asked the Reaper, turning to face him.

"You hear Jones?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," Nick replied.

"Take care of it," Jim said.

Nick nodded and stepped around Jim, saddling up to the edge of the doorway, holstering his Scythe pistols in clamps under his arms. He grabbed two D18 charges from his belt, one in each hand.

"Can he really take them all out?" Fuyutski asked from behind Jim.

Jim nodded, "Just watch."

Nick armed both the D18s. They beeped once and Nick leaped through the doorway. On the second beep, he hurled them to the left and right, sending them toward the men bunched up on each side. On the third beep, he hit the ground on his stomach and covered his goggles. The charges went off and blew the four men they had targeted to kingdom come, and blinding the night vision equipped four men in the hallway he was now in.

"Go!" Jim shouted and rounded the corner, bringing his Impaler up as he did so.

Mana and Jones accompanied him, blazing a trail of death over Nick's head. The four men were cut down in seconds flat, their suited hulks clanging to the ground with blood spurting out of multiple wounds. Nick stood up and turned back to the squad. A sergeant stepped out from around a corner behind Nick with his rifle leveled at the back of the Reaper's head.

Jim shouted, "Move!"

There ended up not being a reason to move, as Fuyutski fired his oversized pistol past Nick's head, blowing the Dominion sergeant apart at the waist with one shot. Blood coated the hallway as the echo of the Vice Admiral's shot died away.

"Holy shit," Nick muttered.

"What the hell is that thing?" Jim asked, pointing at the older man's pistol.

"Vauss Luger Special," Fuyutski told Jim, holding the massive weapon up for him to see.

"Nice," Nick commented, then shot a struggling enemy in the head.

Mana walked off down the hallway away from them.

"Where're you going?" Jim asked.

"To get the thing we came here to get, silly," she replied over her shoulder.

She walked down a ramp and took a turn, instantly coming face to face with a suited man. Mana snapped her rifle up into place and trained it on her target's chest, sighting down the barrel. She looked at him for a minute, and then noticed that it was Roth. Smiling, she lowered her weapon and started to step forward.

"Hey, I thought I'd never find you," she said, "I've got these guys eating out of my-"

A spike smashed into her chest, stopping her dead in her tracks. She stumbled backward, hitting the wall and sliding along it before falling to the ground. The spike had punctured her right lung, and as a result her scream of pain came out accompanied by a strained gargle and cough of blood. Roth fired again, his second shot hitting her in the lower back at an angle, pinning her to the ground.

He took aim for a third shot, this one to her neck, when Jim stepped into the hallway and fired a volley from the hip. The spikes banged into the wall behind Roth and drove him forward and into a crouch. It was from here that he took aim at Mana's head, now only three feet away from her. Jim drew down on Roth's head with his own rifle, impossible to miss from his position.

"You fire I kill her," Roth spat.

"Jim, don't listen to him!" Mana shouted.

"You know damn well that my finger'll tighten if I-" Roth started

"Jim! Kill him!" Mana screamed, cutting him off.

"Both of you shut up!" Jim shouted, his voice cracking in anger.

Nick, Jones and Fuyutski were holding position ten yards back from him on the ramp leading down to this level, not daring to move lest it start something bad.

"Okay," Jim said, not taking his aim off of Roth's head, "Now how do think you're getting out of this alive?"

"Let's just set everything down and talk about it," Roth proposed.

"I say fuck that," Nick put in from the stairwell, "This whole thing was a fucking set up. Somebody ratted us."

"McCabe shut up!" Jim shouted without looking back at the subject of his anger.

"I'm just saying somebody's a mole!" Nick defended.

"Shut it!"

"You should listen to sergeant McCabe, Major," Roth said, "There is a mole. If you want, I could tell you who it is."

"And then I let you go, is that it?" Jim asked.

"Precisely," Roth hissed.

"I'll save you the trouble, Colonel," Mana said, "Jim, I'm the mole."

Roth fired, his shot hitting Mana in the temple. Jim shot Roth in the head and drove him back into the wall. The shots' reports died away hollowly in the dank halls of the research station, replaced by silence. Nick stepped up next to Jim, surveying the two dead bodies in front of him. Without meeting his friend's eyes, he spoke.

"We need to finish the mission," he said.

"I know that," Jim replied, "Blow that door open if you don't mind."


	68. Chapter 68

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 68: Getting the Device**

The Mercer Doomsday Device was contained in a twelve-foot tall cylinder and was the only object within the high-security storage room within Installation 26 on Trebuchet. It weighed in at half a ton, which was probably the reason that it withstood the explosion Nick used to open the storage room. The D18 blew the door across the room, bouncing it off the device itself and careening into the wall.

Nick stepped into the room first, his Scythes out and sweeping the room out of habit. Fuyutski entered after him, holding his heavy-caliber pistol loosely in his right hand. He walked over to the device and inspected its surface.

"That it?" Nick asked.

"Yes," Fuyutski said, "This is the Mercer Doo-"

"Jim we got the goods!" Nick shouted out the door to where Jim and Jones were getting Mana's body prepared for transport.

"Good!" Jim shouted back, "Get it out here!"

"On it!" Nick replied as he picked up a toppled two wheeler from the floor.

--

"What should we do?" asked Ensign Conrad.

"I don't know," replied acting commander Guthree.

When Roth and Davis left the _Dark Star _they had left Guthree in charge of the ship. His job was to keep the ship parked right where it was, safely hidden in a ravine two miles away from the research complex. A minute ago, the medical officer had radioed the bridge and said that Colonel Roth's life signs had flatlined as well, adding him to the ranks of other dead marines. Now the issue was what to do now that he was gone, and due to Davis' passing, Guthree was the highest rank on the scene.

"I say we get the hell out of here," said Ensign Rockwell from where he stood next to his communications console.

"Okay, let's do it," Guthree said, gathering up his vertebrae to form a spine, "Helm: set the controls for-"

The ship rocked as a Yamato shot hit the port side, throwing it around and into the ravine wall. Guthree landed on his side and heard his shoulder pop out of joint, sending a lance of pain through his body. He yelped in pain just as the alarm started to blare and the bridge lights turned red. Rockwell pulled himself up to his console and tapped in a few commands, then turned to Guthree.

"We're being hailed," he said through pained grunts.

"Put it on the screen," Guthree ordered, steadying himself on the side of his chair.

The screen snapped on and showed a woman wearing a faded UED uniform. "You have ten seconds to convince me of why I shouldn't put another round straight through your reactor. Starting: now," she stated.

Before Guthree could say anything, the entire bridge crew erupted into chaos, all of the men shouting reasons at once. They ranged from 'I have a kid at home' to 'I'll haunt you in the afterlife' and 'I'm a virgin and that's reason enough!' In short, ten seconds later the _Dark Star _and its hopelessly uncoordinated crew was a smoking hulk of radioactive debris.

On the bridge of the _Shogoki, _Hyuga turned to Katsuragi. "Ma'am, that was kind of cold hearted," he said.

"Well, all work and no play…" Katsuragi shrugged, smiling mischievously.

--

"How's everything going up here, sergeant?" Jim asked as he hopped down off of the destroyed Siege Tank, having climbed over it to get out of the installation's front entrance.

"Everything is fine, Major. But I sense all is not with you," Nanius replied, turning from where he was talking to Kahn and Jax.

"I don't want to talk about it," Jim said tersely.

"But Sergeant Kirishima is de-"

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Jim snapped, cutting the Zealot off mid-thought.

A moment passed before Nanius thought of how to continue. "I see that clearly. However, if you ever want to talk about it-"

"I'd talk to someone other than you," Jim said bluntly, not meeting Nanius' eyes.

"I understand," Nanius said, "I, too, have lost someone."

"Look, just because you know what I'm thinking doesn't mean the rest of the crew needs too, alright?" Jim told him.

"Of course," Nanius said, "I will also try and refrain from digging so deeply in the future."

"I'd appreciate it," Jim said, then added, "Thanks."

"It is…no problem," the Protoss managed.

Just then, the _Shogoki _sat down, its invasion ramp already yawning open and inviting them in.

--

Jim and Fuyutski entered the bridge, both out of their bulky CMC armor and instead wearing comfortable clothing. Well, at least Jim was comfortable in his T-shirt and shorts, but he found it hard to believe that the Vice Admiral in his stiff class A uniform was experiencing the same sensation. Katsuragi turned to them, a cup of coffee in each hand.

"How'd everything go?" she asked, handing them each a cup.

"We got the package," Jim answered.

"Good!" Katsuragi said, picking up her own cup of sludge off of her command chair's arm.

"And we lost some people," Jim continued.

"Principally Sgt. Kirishima," Fuyutski added.

"Oh," Katsuragi said, "I'm sorry."

Jim forced down his coffee, gulped, and retorted. "Don't be. Lay in a course for Jotun."

"What the hell for?" Katsuragi asked as Jim left the bridge.

"We gotta pick up a reporter," Jim replied.

With that, the door shut behind him. Fuyutski turned to Katsuragi with a questioning look.

"Is he always like that?" he asked.

"Gruff and unfriendly? Yeah, but more so than usual it seems," Katsuragi replied.

The Vice Admiral merely grunted a reply as Katsuragi began feeding coordinates to Hyuga off of a star chart. Soon enough, the ship slipped into warp space, heading for the twilight world of Jotun.


	69. Chapter 69

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 69: Aida's Crusade**

Kensuke Aida was a reporter. At least, that's what he was repeating to himself as his shuttle closed in on the _Shogoki_'s docking bay. He'd covered stories on wars before for Mike Liberty. They were easy: stories about marines having to deal with the shock of battle, which was always boring due to their neural resocialization.

This was just another one of those assignments. How much different from a regular military unit could this bunch of mercenary misfits actually be?

When the shuttle's door swung open, he immediately realized that they were _extremely_ different.

There was a man on the ground, swearing at another man who was standing defensively in front of a Protoss probe as if it was his own child. Standing off to the side, a Ghost and Protoss Zealot sparred with each other using pieces of piping in place of large foam swords. A blue haired woman strode up and took up position in between the probe-protector and shouting man, who now had a D18 charge in his hand, and tried to calm them down.

Out of all this complete chaos stepped a man wearing a leather jacket, smoking a Coffin Nail brand cigarette and totting an AGR assault rifle on his back. The man shook Kensuke's hand and looked him straight in the eye.

"I'm Major Jim Goss. I'm in charge of this sorry bunch of assholes," he said.

"Kensuke Aida," Kensuke replied, "The pleasure is all mine."

"You're damn right it is," Jim muttered, "Come on. I'll show you your cabin."

Kensuke followed Jim through the hallways of the _Shogoki _to a small cabin. Jim knocked on the door, and a voice from within called out for him to open it. Sliding it aside, Jim stepped into the room and motioned Kensuke in after him. It was small, with two beds side by side. Under the small window at the other end sat a bedside table, and on it a record player kicking out the soft sounds of some Old Earth music.

Kensuke flopped his three bags worth of gear down on the unoccupied bed, the other being used by a silver-haired man reading calmly from a book on his lap.

"Mr. Aida, this is Vice Admiral Fuyutski. He's the UED's watchdog," Jim introduced.

"The accepted vernacular is Military Observer, but I hear that the accepted vernacular isn't your specialty, is it Mr. Aida?" Fuyutski said.

"You've heard of me?" Kensuke asked in astonishment.

"You'd be surprised what we can pick up on Earth, my good friend," Fuyutski replied.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm gonna go talk to Raynor and see if I can leach a couple hundred quarts of smokes off his crew," Jim said and left.

"What if he says no?" Fuyutski asked.

"Then I'll talk to Horner," Jim retorted over his shoulder just before the door closed completely.

Fuyutski slowly put a bookmark in his novel and closed it, then turned to Aida. "I suppose you have some questions," he said.

"And you're willing to answer them?" Kensuke asked.

"The Liberty News Network is an underground organization, correct?" Fuyutski asked.

"Yes, we pride ourselves on it," Kensuke answered.

"Well, then I can trust you to not distort my words in any way, correct?"

"We pride ourselves on that as well."

"Then you're the perfect person to relay an official press statement from the UED to the people of the Korpulu Sector, aren't you?" Fuyutski asked.

"I see what you're doing," Kensuke said, "And I like it. So I get exclusive press coverage of your activities?"

"From this ship, of course," Fuyutski said, then when he saw the disappointment cross the boy's face added, "Trust me, this is where you'll want to be during the invasion."

Kensuke smiled and pulled a recorder out of his vest and sat it down on the night table. Then he reached for the record player's off switch, but stopped himself when he was almost to it.

"Do you mind?" he asked Fuyutski.

The older man shook his head in the negative, and Kensuke flicked the switch. The singer's voice deepened until it was unrecognizable, then it stopped altogether. Then Kensuke began the interview.

"So, before I ask you any questions, would you care to just make a general press release?"

"Yes I would," Fuyutski replied, "The United Earth Directorate would like to apologize for the brashness with which we arrived during our first expedition into this sector. Though it was our original intent to overthrow Emperor Mengsk I, we have since realized the error of our ways and now seek a peaceful co-existence with the Terran Dominion.

"Furthermore, we also would like to come to a treaty of sorts with the Protoss. Our races can learn many things from each other and we of the Directorate believe that under the banner of peace that humans and Protoss can become a prominent conservatory force among the stars.

"However, our peaceful intentions do not extend to the Zerg. Let this be a direct warning to the Queen of Blades: The UED will not stand by as you enslave countless worlds. Your treacherous reign is at an end, and nothing, not even your precious swarm, can hold back the inevitability of fate," Fuyutski finished.

Kensuke nodded his approval. "I'll send that in with my next report package."

"Thank you," Fuyutski replied, "And now on to what you really want."

"Okay. First question: what are the UED's primary objectives this time around?"

"Destroy the Zerg," Fuyutski said bluntly.

"How will you do that?"

"I am not at liberty to discuss our classified strategy at this time," Fuyutski answered, "But maybe in a few days."


	70. Chapter 70

StarCraft: Brain Damage

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 70: Empty Spaces**

"Be careful with that!" Jim shouted at the UED SCV driver carrying the Mercer Device.

"Yeah, whatever," the driver replied.

With that, the SCV strode off across the _Epyon_'s landing bay with a squad of marines escorting it to make sure nothing happened to their Admiral's precious prize. Jim sighed and produced a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and struck one. He leaned up against one of the _Shogoki_'s landing struts and took a puff, savoring the feeling.

"Can I have one?" Nick asked as he strode up in a gray exercise sweatshirt.

Jim didn't reply, instead simply offering the pack to his friend. He kept his eyes fixed on something across the landing bay from them. Nick lit up and looked at where Jim was gazing. Parked in between two destroyers was a large angular black ship roughly the same size of the _Shogoki_.

"What do you make of that?" Jim asked Nick without looking away from the black ship.

"Not sure what to make of it honestly," Nick replied, puffing on his cigarette.

"Let's find out," Jim said.

Before Nick could reply, Jim was off across the landing bay at a brisk walk, his flak pistol slapping against his leg in its holster as he went. Nick followed him, checking that his throwing knives were secure in his boots. It took them a little while to get over to the black ship, and the closer they got the more apparent it was that the ship was of Protoss origin.

The curves and angles on it were too intricate for any Terran ship maker. Besides, all the Protoss standing around it in black robes made it rather obvious. Once they got there, Jim walked straight up to the first Protoss he saw.

"Who's in charge here?" he asked.

The Dark Templar turned to him and scowled. "I am," it said, "And who are you?"

"Jim Goss, Dogs of War. I'm under employment of the UED forces, Special Forces division. I'd like to ask you a few-"

Nick nudged Jim in the arm, causing him to turn.

"What?" he asked.

"Fuyutski and that shit-heel reporter," Nick answered, pointing back the way they had come.

"Shit," Jim said, and turned back to the Dark Templar, "What's your name?"

"Kyrtas," the twilight warrior replied.

"We'll talk later," Jim promised, then headed off to meet Fuyutski and Kensuke halfway.

"Major," Fuyutski said, "We have a meeting, remember?"

"Yeah, I was just chatting with some friendly alien scum over here is all," Jim replied.

Fuyutski glared at him, while Kensuke fished a recorder out of his pocket. "Why do you think the Protoss are scum?" he asked, pushing the recorder in Jim's face.

"Piss off," Jim snorted and bumped past the reporter, "Let's go see what the old fart wants now."

--

Gendo's office was just as dark and gloomy as ever as Jim, Nick, Fuyutski and Kensuke entered. The ominous Admiral was standing behind his desk talking with a robed figure. Jim strode up to the edge of the desk and popped off a half-ass salute that couldn't have been more sarcastic and non-respectful if he'd indicated the intent with a blinking sign.

"Reporting as rudely asked too," he smart-assed, clearly in a bad mood.

"I cannot properly thank you for recovering the MDD," Gendo said.

"Yes you can, Admiral," Jim countered, "Give me 80,000 bucks and a clear line of sight at Kerrigan and we'll call it square."

"Indeed," Gendo muttered.

Jim turned to the cloaked figure. "What's your story?" he asked.

The figure turned to Jim, and all his expectations of seeing an old crusty Dark Templar were flushed right down a high powered metaphorical chemical toilet. He opened his mouth and tried to speak, but nothing came out, probably because signals weren't going from his brain to that part of his body in the aftermath of the total system shock he had just experienced.

Was it her? Really? Nah, it couldn't be. Then the figure flipped the hood of its cloak down, revealing a long, beautiful mane of red hair, and Jim knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it was Asuka.

"Hello Jim," she simply stated.

At this, Jim managed a slight choked crying noise that came out high pitched and squeaky, which wasn't the desired effect, so he rephrased it.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, his voice coming back in a flurry of words.

"The UED has the same mutual goals that we do, so it is a natural place for me to be at this moment," she answered.

"Who's 'we'?" Jim asked.

"My people. The Dark Templar," Asuka answered.

Gendo chuckled a bit and occupied himself with some papers on his desk.

"The Dark Templar are suddenly your people?" Jim asked.

"Yes, they are the only people I've ever had," she replied.

"Ok, that's a load of horse shit. I don't have time for a half-Protoss bitch. Come on, Nick, let's get the he-"

"You don't have time for any romantic company, do you Jim?" Asuka asked to his back.

Jim slowly turned around, facing her with one hand on his flak pistol. "I'm sorry, were you reading my mind?" he asked.

"So what if I was? Are you really going to draw your weapon on me for that infantile reason?" she asked.

"Know what? No, I'm not. But here's a thought for you," Jim said and put a rather raunchy rendering of a Hydralisk making love to an Ursadon in his head.

Asuka involuntarily stiffened at the picture, repulsed momentarily. Jim laughed and headed for the exit, with Nick in tow. "Gendo," he said, "When you're ready for Tarsonis, let me know. Until then, don't call me in for bullshit meetings like this."

Nick turned around and shrugged, before following Jim out.


	71. Chapter 71

**Author's Note: This update, as all others recently have been, gets us closer and closer to the end of the series. I'm projecting an ending around chapter 100, so hang in there with me. On the subject of hanging in there with me: thanks to all of you who didn't stop reading after chapter one and how stupid it was. Anyway, here's the new batch. Look forward to more in the next one.**

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 71: Tic Tac Toe**

"You okay?" Nick asked Jim as they walked out of Gendo's office.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jim lied.

Neither of them spoke the rest of the way to the _Shogoki_. Once there, Jim headed directly to his cabin and shut the door. Nick walked past and headed up to the medical bay where everyone was gathering for a poker game. The elevator doors closed, so the Reaper didn't hear Jim's temper explode like a tank shell.

"Fuck!" he shouted, his voice cracking in the process.

He smashed his balled up fist into the metal wall beside his door, causing a shot of pain to lance up his arm. In pain, he collapsed back onto his bed, holding his throbbing hand in a vain attempt to banish the uncomfortable feeling. As he lay there, staring up at the metal ceiling, he began to think hard for the first time in a long while.

Asuka was back, but he hadn't reacted the way he had always thought he would. Ever since she left all those months ago he had thought that they would have had a tearful reunion. Well, maybe not tearful, but at least more civil then what he had just experienced. But she had just changed so much that he couldn't possibly be happy to see her.

Her independence was what had drawn Jim to her in the first place. She used to be so outspoken, so blunt, so distinctly the embodiment of a human woman. Now, now she was just a girl pretending to be something she wasn't. It made Jim sick to think that she was choosing to masquerade as a Protoss. He had no problem with her learning to fight like them, but to say they were 'her people' was wrong.

Apparently, his failure to verbalize these thoughts resulted in giving her a mental rendering of a Hydralisk and an Ursadon getting it on.

_Wonderfully mature, Jim_, he thought to himself, _Just great._

Rolling over in bed, he looked at the clock readout on his desk terminal. It was 1500, and he hadn't slept in three days. Without further interruption, Jim fell asleep.

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"Asuka's back?" Ayanami asked down in the medical bay.

"Yup," Nick replied, taking a sip from his styrofoam cup of garbage.

"Asuka…" Jax pondered, trying to place a name to a face.

"Shut up, Jax," Nick grumbled.

"Oh!" Jax exclaimed as intelligence struck, "The sexy lieutenant lady!"

Nick shook his head with the knowledge that Jax was a hopeless case. Kahn laid down his hand. Nanius laid down his own, instantly electing a reaction out of Kahn.

"Shit," the Ghost muttered, and then pushed over the money he had lost.

Nanius chuckled good-naturedly as he raked the money into a steadily growing pile in front of him. They were the only two playing poker, as Kahn was the only one who had the same advantage Nanius did, thus canceling each other out and making it a fair game. It seemed, however, that even in a fair game Nanius won hands down.

The door to the medical bay opened and Kensuke stepped in, a video camera in one hand. "Hi guys," he said, "You mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Yes. Now go away," Nick said as a way of both greeting and saying goodbye at the same time.

"Just a few stories?" Kensuke asked, this time looking to Ayanami.

"Sorry," she said, picking Fluffy the Ursadon up off the floor to pet him, "I don't have any."

Kensuke looked to Nanius, who shook his head. "How about you?" the reporter asked Kahn.

"No," Kahn said, "But I'll bet Jax has a story or two for you. Don't you Jax?"

"Well hell yeah!" Jax exclaimed, standing up from his chair, "I'll tell you a story!"

"Great!" Kensuke replied, "We'll have the interview in my quarters!"

Jax clapped Kensuke on the back as they both left the medical bay, already spinning some yarn about wrestling a thirty-foot long sea snake to death back home on Antiga Prime. The door closed and Nanius put his hand in the air, which Kahn promptly smacked with his own.

"That guy has no idea what he's in for," Ayanami observed from her workbench.

"Not a clue," Nick agreed.

"I for one cannot wait until the resulting article is released," Nanius said.

"Amen to that," Kahn muttered, fishing out a pad of paper and pen for a game of tic-tac-toe.

As the Protoss and Ghost began to play the age-old trivial time waster, and Nick carefully balanced a throwing knife on his fingertip, Ayanami asked a question. "Nick, you went with Jim to the Admiral's office. Do you know what our next destination is?" she asked.

"No more errands I hope," Kahn muttered, then cursed at his sudden defeat at the hand of Nanius' three diagonal X's.

"I think the next stop is Tarsonis," Nick said.

"And the Queen of Blades," Nanius added, then locked eyes with Kahn, "Do you think you are up to the task of delivering our righteous blow, my friend?"

"As long as I've got a clear line of sight, yes. I've sniped too many people in my life to miss her with a weapon like the BOSUN XFN96," Kahn replied.

"What's with it pumping six gallons of shit into her?" Nick asked, "That's more than she has blood in her body."

"The chemical is designed to disrupt the Overmind, which as we all know is rather large. The proportion of disrupter molecules to water molecules is a bit heavy on the water's side. In any event, it's likely that she'll shed most of the excess fluid through natural ducts on her body. However, she won't be able to shed the actual business liquid as it will automatically invade her blood stream upon entering," Kahn explained.

"That actually makes sense," Ayanami commented, putting her arms under Kahn's armpits from behind him.

"I know, hon. That's why I said it," Kahn replied and kissed her on the cheek.

Nanius made a mark on the pad of paper. Kahn glanced at it. "Fuck this game," he hissed.


	72. Chapter 72

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 72: Speeches**

Jim's Impaler barked and a Zergling was ripped in half in a torrent of 8mm spikes, carried back and stuck to the wooden wall of his family's home. Stepping up to the front door, Jim kicked it open and stepped inside. He combed it with his rifle, checking for any targets in the foyer. Seeing none, he continued into the living room.

From his position he could see that on the other side of the couch two Zerglings were eating something. Using the added strength his suit gave him, Jim kicked the couch to the side, revealing the two Zerglings and his little brother, whose intestines they tugged at like a rope. Jim opened fire at point blank range, splattering blood over the carpet and his leg armor.

He let off the trigger and looked down at his brother. Without needing to check Jim could tell he was dead, as his rib cage had been broken into and his heart gnawed out as well as a good portion of his lungs. His head had been nearly severed, with bite marks all over his neck. A crash came from the kitchen and Jim wheeled around to see a Hydralisk emerge with blood coating its scythe arms.

The alien's chest opened, revealing an array of acid spikes ready to fire. Jim dove to the right, firing his Impaler as he did so. Spikes flew through the air in both directions, the organic ones having less luck than the steel ones. Jim's volley smashed through the Hydralisk's head, piercing its brain and dropping it like a sack of beans.

All but one determined acid spike missed, hitting the wall behind Jim. One, however, managed to hit him in the thigh. Groaning in pain, he pulled it out and tossed it to the side. With great effort he stood and hobbled into the kitchen, shooting the downed Hydralisk a few times just to be sure it was dead. He saw two human figures stuck to the wall, creep covering both of them completely.

He threw his Impaler onto the counter, crushing a few plates in the process, and pulled at the purple gunk in the general area of one form's face. After a minute, his mother's face emerged, sickly in color but still human.

"Mom! Mom wake up! It's Jim!" he shouted.

His mother's eyes opened, yellow and catlike. She spoke, the words having a strange echo to them.

"For the swarm."

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

Jim snapped awake in his bed on the _Shogoki_, drenched in sweat. Someone was knocking on his door and had awakened him from his nightmare/flashback. He was about to ask who it was when they spoke, identifying it as Nick.

"Is there anybody in there?" he asked.

"Yeah. What do you want?" Jim shot back.

"Rokubungi's about to make his big pre-invasion speech. We're thinking its about go time," Nick replied.

"I'll be out in a second," Jim told him, climbing out of bed.

He had fallen asleep in his clothes, which were now soaked with sweat. After forty seconds, he was wearing a new shirt and shorts and was heading up to the bridge. His nightmare was the same one he'd been having for years: what happened on Mar Sara. It was the whole reason that he hated the Zerg, though even without it he was sure he would've hated them anyway, just that this way it was personal.

Upon entering the bridge, he saw that everyone was standing around quietly listening to the beginning to Gendo's fleet-wide announcement over the PA system.

"We have traveled many light years to be here today. It is a historical occasion, good friends, for this is the first day of the Swarm's decimation. Each and every one of you knows your place in the coming fight, and if any of you have any qualms about what you must do, let me assure you that I trust in your ability to sort out your inner conflicts.

"As you all know, Tarsonis is our target. This former head of a corrupt government is now the head of a corrupt alien menace and so must be cleansed. We are entering warp now as I speak. Good luck to all of us, and God speed."

The PA crackled and turned off, drowning the bridge in silence. Outside the _Shogoki_ there was a deep rumble as the _Epyon _entered warp. Katsuragi turned to Jim, who was busy pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot teetering on the edge of the tactics table.

"What'd you think?" she asked.

"I've heard better," he replied.

"Where?" she pressed.

Jim sat the pot back in place and took a sip before replying. "Duke's speech before we invaded Tarsonis back when there were still Confederates on it," he said.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I believe it went something like, 'buckle up and kick their mangy asses you crazy sons of bitches.'" Jim quoted.

"Moving," Katsuragi smart assed.

"I fuckin' cried," Jim agreed.

Around them, the fleet barreled forward toward Tarsonis and their destiny.


	73. Chapter 73

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 73: Crash Landing**

The UED fleet had been in orbit around Tarsonis for exactly ten minutes when the Zerg surface-to-space intercept defenses kicked into gear. Having exited the _Epyon_'s hanger bay, the _Shogoki_ was dodging back and forth to evade the massive acid blobs littering the space around it. Hyuga thumbed the controls, forcing the ship around yet another green menace.

Upon emerging from around it he was immediately rewarded with the sight of a massive burning Battlecruiser floating dead in space before them. Using the emergency bow thrusters, the spectacled helmsman got his lumbering ship to cruise roughly out of the way, the wing scraping lightly against the other ship in passing.

A group of Valkryies swept by the bow, chasing a trio of Mutalisks. The Terran ships decimated the Mutalisks with volleys of missiles and flew through the bloody remains just as the _Shogoki _passed the skirmish.

"Ma'am!" Hyuga said, pointing to the main screen.

Katsuragi looked and saw a wave of UED dropships soaring toward the planet below, carrying the advance force within them. Behind the dropships came the _Epyon_, its massive weapons systems laying out a defensive web of fire that decimated all incoming projectiles. As the dropships passed the _Shogoki_, Katsuragi put her headset on.

"Jim, hurry up or you'll miss the party," she told the ship's CO.

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Down in the cargo/hanger bay, Jim told Katsuragi to fuck off and stepped up into Flyboy's dropship, closing the door and taking a seat next to Nick, across from Jones, Ayanami and Kahn. Next to them was Nanius, who sat opposite Kahn, and further down Jax. Strapped to the floor was Jeffy, who as the dropship ejected into space jostled a bit under his elastic cord.

Jim sat his Impaler butt down between his feet and looked around the dropship. It was here that a thought struck him, and he laughed.

"What?" Nick asked.

"It's just that the first time you me and Ayanami were together, and this whole thing started, we were sitting just like this in a dropship headed for the surface of Tarsonis," Jim told him.

Nick didn't say anything for a minute, then finally managed, "Wow."

"And then that one guy shot himself," Ayanami said, "What was his name?"

"I can't remember," Jim said truthfully, "Or the Firebat's name for that matter."

"They were both idiots," Nick said with finality.

Kensuke, who was sitting near the cockpit door, leaned forward and looked around the bulky form of Jones to Nick. "So why were they both idiots?" he asked.

"Because one shot himself and the other blew up right off the ramp," Nick answered, "And why the hell don't you have armor?"

"I don't think I need it," Kensuke replied.

"Yeah, well, you do," Jim told him.

Kensuke was about to ask why when the cockpit door ripped open and a glave wurm emerged, slashing through his chest and out the back of his body before cutting into and out of the wall. The vacuum sucked Kensuke's dead body out in a stream resembling a gory type of spaghetti.

"Close the hole!" Jim shouted to anyone who could hear him.

The solution came from the most unlikely place ever: Jeffy. The little probe lashed out at the hole with a series of electrical tendrils, forming a stasis field. Unfortunately, there was still a vacuum coming in from the cockpit, where the glave wurm had entered through the glass. Jax jumped forward and secured the hole in the door with a neo-steel ammo crate.

In the sudden silence that followed, the remaining fourteen Dogs of War in the compartment could hear the engines whining out of control and felt the dropship start to spin out of control.

"That wurm must have taken out Flyboy," Ayanami muttered.

"So what do we do?" Parker asked from his position by Jax.

"We hope to land in a lake," Jim replied dryly.

As it turned out, the dropship did not land on a lake. It did, however, land on a hillside at an angle that instigated rolling. The craft tumbled sideways down the hill, taking out trees, shrubbery and Zerglings on its way. One of the engines jerked loose of its mount and rocketed across the landscape, smashing into an old rundown apartment complex, taking out its first floor and collapsing the whole structure.

When the dropship finally came to a stop it resembled more of a crunched beer can than a dynamic, agile space transport vehicle. Pushing himself up off of the ceiling, Jim picked up his Impaler and flicked on his suit's lights, illuminating the darkened interior.

"Who's not dead?" he asked, coughing from the smoke that clogged the compartment.

Everyone responded with okays except Parker, whom when searched for was found with a metal pipe sticking through his head.

"Wallace, get his ammo," Jim ordered, "Malcolm, check to make sure Flyboy's dead."

Malcolm lumbered forward to the cockpit, making sure not to hit anyone with the napalm tank on his back, and pried open the door. He took one step in and his upper body exploded, giving birth to two Broodlings.

"Open up!" Jim shouted, spraying the area with spikes.

One of them hit the dead Firebat's tank, engulfing the cockpit in fire. The two Broodlings incinerated in the sudden flame, vanishing into memory. If Flyboy, by some miracle, had been alive then he was dead now.

"Kahn, Nanius! Get the door open!" Jim shouted.

The two soldiers lifted the ramp up; holding it there as the rest of the team emerged in a crouch. Nick turned and hucked a D18 charge into the overturned dropship just before Nanius and Kahn let the ramp bang shut. A muffled thump sounded from inside the wrecked hull, soon followed by a large wham as the entire ship went up in flames.

Now that they were outside, Jim surveyed the area. Most of the surface was covered in creep, with it stretching as far out as he could see. The airspace was covered with fire as the UED and Zerg battled, and way across the surface, near the horizon, the _Epyon _was landing. Then it donned unanimously on the group that they were in the wrong place, and that they should be over by that massive Star Base.

Jim opened his mouth to curse under his breath, but Jones cut him off.

"Zerg!"


	74. Chapter 74

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 74: The Cave**

In the Dominion Marine Corp handbook, it states that when dealing with a small scale Zergling attack a squad should form a horizontal line that is wider then that of the Zergling's attack formation. In this way, they can effectively work as a dam against the wave of smaller creatures and use their Impalers to destroy the opposition without much trouble.

When it comes to the subject of dealing with a large scale Zergling attack, however, the handbook is very brief: Run.

Though Jim, Nick, Nanius, Jax, Kahn, Ayanami, Jeffy, Jones and the rest had never once served in the Dominion military, nor read the faction's handbook, they did agree with its author on this particular subject.

The squad tore across the landscape, running at full speed away from a wave of countless Zerglings that had just crested the hill behind their crashed dropship. Shrieks filled the mid-morning air, and as Jim sneaked a look back at the way they had come, he saw that the Zerg basic attack units were already clambering over the wrecked transport.

Turning back around and continuing his run, Jim shouted frantically into his radio. "Dogs of War strike team to _Epyon_! Come in _Epyon_ come in!"

Private Miller spun to fire at the Zerglings and got off a good half clip before he was overwhelmed by the little creatures, weighed down to the ground and ripped to shreds by a flurry of claws, teeth and tails. As the group of monsters ate him, more of their kin jumped over them and galloped after the rest of the Dogs.

"Miller's down sir!" Jones shouted to Jim.

"Shut up and move, Jones!" Jim shouted back.

Jim's radio crackled to life and the calm voice of an adjutant came through. _"We copy Dog team. What is your situation?"_

"We're severely off target for the landing zone and are being pursued by multiple hostiles! Requesting air support, over!" Jim replied, then pointed to a cave built into the landscape and shouted to his teammates, "Get in there!"

_"Air support is cut off, Major," _the adjutant told him, _"We apologize for the inconvenience, but we assure you-"_

Jim squelched the line and dove into the cave headfirst, soon followed by Nick who rocketed in on his jumpjets. Scrambling to his feet, Jim turned around to see the rest of the team following suit. Kahn turned and popped off three quick shots from his C20 at something Jim couldn't see due to the cave wall. At Nanius' urging, Kahn darted into the cave as well.

Outside, most of the Zerglings continued onward without giving them another thought. However, a good-sized group did pay them mind and swarmed the cave. A Zergling jumped straight at Jim and he lifted his shield to block it. There was a sickening crunch as the foot-long spike on the shield's front impaled the Zergling.

The tiny animal, however, was still alive enough to flail its back spines around the sides of the shield in a final attempt to get at its target. Jim responded by throwing the shield down on the floor of the cave and stepping on it, crushing the Zergling beneath it like a bloody, carapace-covered pancake.

Kahn put a C20 shot through a Zergling's body and blew it into the path of a D18 charge. The charge stuck to the Zergling and Kahn, thinking fast, kicked it into the ground of its kin. The resulting explosion leveled all but a hand full of the would-be spelunking aliens. Jax shot the final one in the head with an 8mm spike and the cave was quiet.

_"Dog team, we are tracking a group of hunter-killer Hydralisks inbound on your present location. Recommend you relocate ASAP, over," _the adjutant from before calmly told Jim via radio.

"Copy that. Relocating pronto," Jim replied, then turned to his seven-man team, "Shit's coming down on top of us. Kahn, Nanius: see if you can't find a way deeper into these caves. Maybe a tunnel system or something."

As the Ghost and Zealot began to act, Ayanami stepped up next to Kahn and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful," she said.

Kahn lifted his goggles for a second to give her a reassuring wink before following Nanius deeper into the cave. Ayanami looked into the shadow that he had vanished within, only torn away from it when Jim interrupted her thoughts with an order.

"Ayanami, post outside with Jax and keep an eye out," he said.

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Kahn followed behind Nanius five yards to the Zealot's right in the shadows, hugging the cave wall with his C20 in hand. His stealth generator masked him in a light-bending field that obscured him from the view of all but the most attentive foes, which with Nanius out in the open and drawing the most attention was almost none.

Of course, this was all part of the plan: Nanius would be bait and Kahn would watch his back. It was working well thus far, that was until something went wrong…


	75. Chapter 75

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 75: New Foes**

Nanius was 101 years old, and since he was thirty-three had bathed himself in the artistry of Zealot combat. He had fought many battles and was very confident in his abilities, though he was also very observant of new foes, and had not resigned himself to the ignorance of something that could conceivably be much more skilled than him.

So, when a Zerg form that he had never before encountered leapt out of a hole in the tunnel wall and slammed into his shoulder, Nanius wasn't caught totally off guard. He was, however, surprised and didn't react as quickly as he possibly should have. He landed on his side, the weight of this new foe holding him down.

Nanius looked up at it, his vision filled by an image of a slimy face with three distinct flanged jaws. It was easily as long as Nanius was high and was considerably thicker, with yellow-tinted sickle-like spikes sticking out of not only its back but also on any other open part on its body. Nanius didn't have the slightest clue what it was, per se, but he did see an opening in its neck armor, and took advantage of it.

His right psi blade plunged into the exposed flesh, slicing through it and out the back of the creature's neck and casting a bright blue glow around the cave. The Zerg creature wailed and slashed down at Nanius with two long appendages that had emerged from where they'd been folded along its back. Thinking fast, Nanius moved his head to one side and avoided one strike, but in the process got right in the way of the second appendage.

He grabbed the limb with his hand not occupied by slitting open the creature's throat and stopped it just before it reached his forehead. Three quick canister shots smashed into the Zerg's side, throwing it off of Nanius and tearing the psi blade from its throat, splashing a line of blood across the rocky floor of the cave.

Nanius looked over to see Kahn crouched with his C20, the barrel smoking from its recent discharge. The Ghost gave Nanius the thumbs up gesture, which Nanius nodded to in return before standing back up. He looked over at the creature Kahn had shot, expecting to see a bleeding corpse, but was quickly surprised by what he was greeted with.

The flesh around the large bleeding gash in the creature's throat was sealing back up, new skin visibly growing around it before the two mismatched warriors' eyes. Once the hole was sealed, the hefty alien turned toward them, its flanged mouth drooling and spikes twitching in anticipation.

"That's got to be a Roach," Kahn said, aiming with his C20, "I read about those. They regenerate faster than Jax's stim pack cabinet."

"It would appear that your reading materials are accurate," Nanius said, "Did it by chance inform you as to the preferred method of dispatching one?"

Kahn shrugged. "Shoot it till it stops moving."

"Agreed. If I am at any point out of the line of fire, shoot it," Nanius told him, and without waiting for a reaction, jumped at the Roach.

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"Here they come! Jax: Open fire!" Ayanami shouted to her companion while gesturing at the incoming Hunter-Killers.

The redneck, though a blatant retard when outside of combat, was surprisingly prompt when participating in it, as demonstrated by how quickly he responded to Ayanami's suggestion. 8mm spikes flew from his Impaler and stabbed into the ground around the eight Hunter-Killers marching on their position in a rockslide above the cave entrance.

Jax's barrage did not go unnoticed by the modified Hydralisks, as they quickly sped up their advance, slithering along the ground at an alarming rate. Jim, Nick and Jones emerged from the cave, their weapons barking reports across the Tarsonis wasteland. Nick primed and threw a D18 charge, which to his amazement was evaded by its target by a smoothly executed slide to the right.

"These things are smarter than regular Hydras! Faster, too!" he shouted to the rest of the team, sending out a barrage from his Scythe pistols in the process.

"You think?" Jim replied sarcastically, "Because I hadn't fucking noticed!"

"Well, you don't have to be so sarca-"

"Shut up and shoot, Nick!"

A Hunter-Killer reared up, opened its chest and launched a volley of shots up into the rocks at the trio that had just exited the cave. Jim pushed Jones to the ground, the acidic spikes slashing through the air he had occupied just a second before and continuing on until they lost the kinetic energy and fell to the dirt, sizzling.

Jones rolled into a prone position and fired his Impaler at the Hunter-Killer, which brought one of its arms into a blocking position. The spikes entered its arm, drawing pinpricks of blood. Jones adjusted his aim and fired along the creature's arm; jabbing spikes into the muscles just below its shoulder. The Hunter-Killer wailed in pain and retreated beneath the ground, kicking dirt up behind it. Its tail whipped back and forth a few times and then it too disappeared beneath the dirt, leaving emptiness in its wake.

"Jones! Move!" Jim shouted.

But it was too late. The Hunter-Killer's arms erupted from the ground around Jones and wrapped around him in a tight embrace just tight enough to pull him down with the retreating Zerg soldier.

"Sir!" Jones shouted reaching out for Jim.

Jim threw his Impaler aside and ran to Jones, diving down on the ground and grabbing his hand with both of his own. He pulled as hard as he could, but the Hunter-Killer was stronger, and eventually Jones' head slipped below the sun-bleached dirt. Jim held on until he was up to his elbows in dirt, and then he reluctantly let go of Jones' strong grip. As he pulled back, he could feel the private's fingertips flexing for something to grab on to.


	76. Chapter 76

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 76: Vale Deah**

Kahn had been killing things since the age of eight when he had mercilessly slaughtered his neighbor's six pit bulls with his father's shotgun in a vain attempt to impress his mother, who had labeled the dogs 'the most annoying thing in the sector'. Out of all the things he had killed, he was by far convinced that the Zerg Roach strain took the cake for most difficult.

The damn thing took canister rounds like they were merely rather forceful toothpicks, and accepted Nanius' two foot long psi blades it its belly like a whore longing for penetration. As the Protoss warrior struggled with the creature in a downhill one-on-one that had been going on for the past three minutes, Kahn searched for a clear shot.

If either of them could get a clear shot at its head, Kahn was sure, it would go down. The only problem was that armored scales that were barely scratched by the 20mm rounds that Kahn threw at it covered the head, and whenever Nanius tore off the scales to give him a clear shot the damn things grew back like clockwork.

"This isn't working, Nanius," he told his friend.

"You are telling me," the Protoss replied, jumping out of the way of a thrust from the Roach's right-side back claw, "I sense you have a plan?"

"You're damn right I do. Get its mouth open and give me a clear shot at its insides."

Nanius responded by sliding under the Roach and delivering a series of stabs to its stomach, which drew blood that spilled all over Nanius and rolled off his curved golden armor. The Roach began to move to stab at its attacker, but Nanius had already relocated. He slid out from under the creature and stabbed at its right eye, crushing the orb and partly blinding it.

Now with that side of its body rendered dark and essentially useless, the Roach tried to spin around. Nanius, however, was now on its back, and was using his hands to pry open its mouth. The upper and lower right side flanges opened up, revealing a slimy maw within. Kahn moved toward it, taking note that the right eye was already beginning to regenerate, and brought his C20 up to its mouth.

Without warning, the Roach hacked, coughed and sent a thick, bony spike out of its mouth at high velocity. Kahn jumped out of the way, and the spike embedded itself in the cave wall behind him. Undeterred, he inserted the barrel of his rifle into its mouth and fired. The shell exploded against the Roach's heart and destroyed its insides, including the almighty organ that controlled its regeneration.

The Roach wailed and fell to the ground, its last action of life. Then it went still, and Nanius climbed off of it, retracting his psi blades.

"Tough old bastard, wasn't it?" Kahn observed.

"Yes," Nanius agreed, "I hope we do not run in to any more of their kin."

"Come on. Let's keep moving."

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"Collapse the entrance!" Jim shouted to Nick as he helped Jax limp through the back passageway into the tunnel network.

The Hunter-Killers had entered the rockslide where Ayanami and Jax had been posting, and a cat-and-mouse game had ensued. The end result was ten dead Hunter-Killers, one of which Jax had injured with the last sixteen shots his Impaler possessed, and then proceeded to beat to death with the empty weapon.

It was then that an acid spike had smashed his left ankle to pieces and sent him tumbling to the ground below the boulders, soon followed by Ayanami with her medical equipment. There had been no time for immediate treatment, as more of the Hunter-Killers were converging on their location and Jim had ordered them back into the cave.

Now, as Jim watched Nick use a series of D18 charges to destroy the cave entrance and saw the last few rocks shut them away from the last glimmer of sunlight, he felt a foreboding sense of doom for their predicament. Then he thought about it for a second: cut off, no reinforcements, outnumbered, and low on ammo.

A normal Dogs of War situation.

"Fuck Zerg!" Jax shouted.

"Good observation," Jim said dryly.

The team moved into the tunnels, and after a few bends in the path they came across a dead Zerg form that Jim recognized as a Roach. Blood surrounded the corpse, and in it Jim could see something was written. He let go of Jax and helped him into a sitting position, allowing Ayanami to converge on him with her supplies.

"Nick," Jim said, waited for the Reaper to look over at him, and gestured for him to come over.

Squatting by the Roach, the two men looked at the blood, using Jeffy the Probe as a rather bulky hovering flashlight.

" 'On point, radios no-go, follow the arrows'," Nick read.

"Seems as though Kahn and Nanius are taking the initiative," Jim muttered.

"What're you thinking?" Nick asked.

"I don't see any other options, so we'll follow the arrows."

Nick grimaced at the idea of pushing further into a cave system that they knew virtually nothing about, while Jeffy beeped happily at it. If it was due to the eagerness to continue forward, or just because the Probe was genuinely happy, no one could tell for sure.


	77. Chapter 77

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 77: Corrupted**

"Ma'am!" Hyuga shouted, "Target! Ten o'clock high!"

Katsuragi was about to ask what kind of target he was referring to when the _Shogoki _lurched violently to back and to the right, metal grinding as it did so. In Tarsonis' atmosphere wasn't really the ideal place that she wanted the ship to be if it absolutely had to go into a tumbling roll, resulting in her next words to the spectacled helmsman.

"Electrolyze the hull!" she shouted, "Divert energy from the defense turrets!"

Hyuga tapped in commands and subsequently the missile turret icons on one of the readouts before him went from glowing green to blank, a sign that the power to operate them had been successfully removed. With his right hand, he tried desperately to keep the _Shogoki _from tumbling, while at the same time moving the turret power to the hull of the ship.

A status bar blinked green, the lights flickered as the hull was electrolyzed, and a scream assaulted his and Katsuragi's ears. Out of the frontal view port, Katsuragi could see something large and distinctly Zerg uncoil itself from near the nose of the Battlecruiser. The creature, whatever it was, obviously didn't like having that much electrical energy pumped into its body.

"What the hell is that?" Hyuga asked, bringing the turrets back on line.

"I have no clue," Katsuragi said, then saw a blinking light on the tactics table.

She tapped it twice and Vice Admiral Fuyutski's face appeared on screen three, broadcasting from where he was inside his personal Battlecruiser _Ares_, which was fighting a pitched battle against Zerg air forces three hundred feet below the _Shogoki_. His face looked concentrated, and he spoke in a rapid flurry of words.

"Katsuragi: don't let that Corrupter get down to the landing site. The last thing we need is a massive infection down here," he told her.

Katsuragi nodded. "We'll take care of it, sir."

Fuyutski's face disappeared, replaced by a blank screen.

"In answer to your former question, Lieutenant, that is a Corrupter," Katsuragi said, pointing at the creature that was now turning around to come back at them.

"So I heard," Hyuga replied.

"Come about to heading-"

The Corrupter belched a glob of ink that splashed across one of the _Shogoki_'s defense turrets and instantly started to melt it.

"It's acid," Hyuga said.

"Son of a bitch," Katsuragi muttered, "Full starboard barrage."

The _Shogoki's _starboard side missile turrets swung around on their mounts and locked on to the Corrupter. A three dimensional image of the Corrupter created by data compiled from each of the turrets appeared and displayed the targeted areas on its body with red crosshairs flashed into being on Hyuga's terminal. After a quick series touches to the screen, Hyuga had adjusted the impact points to be concentrated at the creature's head.

With that, he punched a key and watched as the rockets cleared their tubes with a unified whoosh of flame and smoke. They soared across the open afternoon air, barreling directly for the Corrupter, which had begun convulsing of its own accord. Suddenly, a belch of ink spewed forth from the creature's mouth and blanketed the incoming missiles, detonating them in mid-air.

As the explosions of the missiles died away, Katsuragi barked a command. "Bring us around right for it!"

The ship careened around and surged toward the Corrupter, its engines blaring flame behind it. The Zerg flier attacked, its rear tentacles coming around and beckoning the Terran ship into it like a mythical Kraken.

The two objects connected, the _Shogoki_ smashing into the Corrupter and pinning it to the bow against the wind. Tentacles wrapped themselves around the small antennae and turrets that were sprinkled about the front of the ship and tugged at them, with only a few giving way to the pressure.

"Ready the cannon," Katsuragi instructed, doing her best to be calm.

Pinpricks of red light appeared at the mouth of the cannon and lanced the Corrupter with bits of intense heat. It screamed and sent one of its tentacles straight up at the bridge. Glass shattered and flew around the room as the fleshy limb busted through the view port. Had they been in space, the air would have been sucked out by now.

But sense they weren't, and sense there was no risk of death by the air being torn from their lungs, Katsuragi reached inside her jacket and pulled out a service pistol which she promptly emptied into the intruding appendage. The impacts did nothing but cause it to thrash about in irritation and in the process smack Hyuga in the side of the head.

The spectacled man fell to the deck, his glasses cracking in the process. The tentacle honed in on him and moved toward him, batting a chair out of the way to do so.

"Run Hyuga!" Katsuragi shouted, pulling another magazine out of her jacket pocket.

"I can't see anything!" he shouted back.

"Quit bitching!" she replied while clicking her fresh clip into place.

She snapped the bolt forward, sliding a round into the chamber, and took aim at Hyuga's console. With careful precision, she fired. The bullet hit the 'fire' command key, and the Yamato discharged in a nuclear wallop that flew across the sky, taking the Corrupter with it. The tentacle was torn from the bridge and sliced open on a jagged piece of glass as it flew out.

Off in the distance, the shot exploded, disintegrating the Corrupter. Katsuragi ran to Hyuga and held him in her arms.

"You okay?" she asked him.

He looked up at her, his glasses cracked and eyes barely open. "I love you," he told her.

SMACK.

"How about now?" she asked.

"Nah, not so much," he replied, rubbing his cheek.

"Good. Now get up and put some contacts in. We've got work to do."


	78. Chapter 78

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 78: Seeing Red**

Jax moved past Jim, Impaler in his hands and Jeffy stuck to his back via a magnetic lock to his armor. That way, he could keep the Probe safe during firefights better than if he was just running about on his own. Besides, with the equipment Jeffy hauled into combat for them, it was a lot easier to distribute things from that angle. Plus, Jax enjoyed the company, and everyone else was spared from hearing his poorly formed dirty jokes.

They had been moving from corpse to corpse in the tunnels, following the instructions written in blood at each, and covering each other as they went. Jim watched as Jax slid up behind a rocky outcropping. The Confederate sergeant gave him the thumbs up, and Jim nodded back before moving forward past Jax.

He slid up behind a large slab of rock that had apparently fallen out of the ceiling, crouching to avoid being seen by anything that happened to be on the other side. After popping up and sweeping the other side for targets with his Impaler, and finding none, he gave Jax the signal.

Clanking all the way, Jax jumped the slab, hit the other side and promptly slipped and fell to the ground with a massive wham.

"What the hell happened up there?" Nick called from where he'd moved up to Jax's former position.

"Jax fell!" Jim replied, standing up to check the problem.

Suddenly, his mind was filled with images of dark shapes moving against blackness. There was a green flash, a spray of highlighted red and then more movement. A flowing mane of vibrant red filled his vision, and then it was gone: the shapes, green, red, everything. When Jim looked around, he saw Jax laying on the ground near a dead Roach and Nick standing over him, shouting something about how Jax had ruined the message.

Evidently, quite a bit of time had elapsed.

"Jim, are you okay?" Ayanami asked.

"Huh, what?" Jim replied, trying to get things straight in his head again, "Yeah. I…oh shit. She's here."

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Kahn moved slowly through the tunnel, his night vision goggles whirring softly as they toiled laboriously to keep him seeing in the darkness. Nanius was a fair bit behind him, making another message in the lifeblood of a dead Roach.

Killing the creatures had become a bit easier, as they had developed a system. C20, flak pistol, psi blades, C20: a pattern that had easily dispatched over fifteen since its inception a mere thirty minutes ago. Kahn shot it with his C20, then peppered it with his flak pistol, causing it to work to fix more wounds than it could.

Then Nanius would jump in and stab it a few times before ripping open its jaws and allowing Kahn a clear shot at its regeneration organ. It was becoming routine, and the two of them barely had to communicate to perform the sequence. Well, both of them being psionic didn't really hurt the process either.

Kahn heard something, and involuntarily stopped. He strained to hear something, anything, in the confined space of the tunnel. After a minute, he was about to continue when he heard the distinctive high-tech pop of a warp blade turning on. Kahn ducked and a green lance swept over his head and sliced into the rock wall beside him.

Spinning on his heel, Kahn began to bring his C20 up, but it was savagely torn from his grasp and thrown against a wall where it shattered into irreparable pieces. Before Kahn could reach for his psi-knife, the robed Protoss kicked him in the chest, driving him through the tunnel and into an open cavern where he tumbled to a stop on his stomach, gasping for air.

He looked up and saw the Dark Templar pull its warp blade out of the wall with a nonchalant tug of its hand. Then it began moving toward him, its eight-foot high form stalking forward with unstoppable purpose. Kahn pushed hard against the ground with his right shoulder, moving his body far enough to give his hand a shot at retrieving his flak pistol from its holster on his belt.

His fingers found the hilt, grabbed it and pulled it out. Gripping it like the last chance it was, he brought it around to the Dark Templar. He aimed at it and flicked the safety off with a strained flick of his finger. There was a flash of green, and the flak pistol was sliced in half just below the barrel.

"Fuck me," Kahn breathed as he watched his enemy bring its weapon above its head for a final, downward sweep to sever his head.

The warp blade came down, but was stopped by a sudden blue psi blade thrust in between the Templar and the Ghost. The Dark Templar looked over and locked eyes with the being who had blocked his attack.

"Step back, foul creature of the shadows," Nanius said forcefully, "Or I will be forced to annihilate you."

"I dare you to try," Kyrtas replied.

Nanius moved his second psi blade toward his opponent, who dodged it and tried to kick him. He caught the foot and brought his psi blade down again, but it was blocked. The two pushed away from each other and stood still, staring each other down. And then, as if on cue, they lunged into the air.


	79. Chapter 79

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 79: Duel**

Contrasting flashes of bright blue and shadowy green flashed across the rock walls of the small cavern as the two Protoss warriors fought. Unlike the display that ensued when a Protoss fought a Zerg, this struggle didn't end quickly and rarely ever resulted in a psi or warp blade cutting through flesh. In fact, in the five minutes that the fight had been going on, neither combatant had obtained one injury.

Kahn, who was certain that at least one of his ribs was broken, had lain positively still, not wanting to interrupt the spectacle that was unfolding before his eyes.

Kyrtas had drawn another warp blade to match Nanius' duel psi blades and was now using them to block and attack in tandem. Nanius struck out with a sweep at his opponent's mid section, which was quickly and efficiently blocked by a vertical warp blade. Just as quickly as the contact had been made, the blades separated, moving through the air parallel to each other, and then collided again above their owners' heads.

As these two blades parted again, the other two touched off to the side. Kyrtas pushed with one of his blades and rolled it off of Nanius' own. He jabbed it forward and Nanius jumped to the side to avoid it, coming down with his left blade to sever the limb. The Dark Templar yanked his arm back and lashed out with his foot.

Nanius grabbed it with his palm, the resulting noise a flat smack of flesh on metal. He pushed back and flipped his opponent into the air. Kyrtas took it in stride and made a graceful back flip before landing with enough force to shatter a small rock beneath his boot. He looked up just in time to see Nanius lunge into the air, his right psi blade poised to pile-drive into Kyrtas' forehead.

The Dark Templar ducked two meters to the left, and Nanius' psi blade sunk into the rock of the ground. Nanius pulled his blade free just in time to block a slash from Kyrtas. Now the tables had turned, and Nanius was on the defensive, blocking stabs and slashes as he walked backward, his enemy pushing him back toward their original position near the prone form of Kahn.

Kahn was worried that they might step on him, but instead they simply moved over, careful to keep their heated blades from searing his flesh. Once Nanius had been backed up against a wall, he sprung forward again, and in two successful blocks and one offensive strike, he was the attacker once more. Thus they traveled back across the cavern for the fifteenth time: blocking and striking, blocking and striking.

"Stop!" two voices shouted at once.

Instantly, both Dark Templar and Zealot returned their arms to their sides and collapsed their weapons. However, their eyes remained locked together, as they had been the entire fight.

"What the hell are you doing?" shouted one of the voices, now clearly defined to Nanius as belonging to Jim.

"You ask that of me? Just what are _you _doing here? This is my operational area, Major!" the other of the two voices said, a female voice that Nanius couldn't place.

"Operational area? I'm sorry, I thought that the whole damn planet was a warzone!" Jim shot back, "My mistake, Asuka!"

"As per UED orders, Shadow Team is to proceed into confirmed tunnel network at grid square 7117 and-"

"Look, hon, I don't care who gave what order," Jim said, stepping up between Nanius and Kyrtas as if they weren't there, "But we needed cover from the Zerg, so we came into this cave."

"Hon?" Asuka asked, getting right up in his face to where his metal chest plate touched her pitch black robe, "Hon? I am Mistress of the Dark Templar! How dare you-"

Just as fast as Nanius sensed Kyrtas give the psychic equivalent of rolling his eyes, he saw Asuka take action. In a violent surge of energy the robed Protoss was hurled across the cavern and into a wall with enough force to crack a human's spine. Kyrtas, however, was only rendered speechless in the aftermath, with no real physical damage.

"And _you_!" she fumed at her subordinate, "I am quickly growing tired of your insolence! Cease it immediately or I will be forced to take action!"

There was a silence thick enough to cut with a knife for a long time, and finally Kyrtas broke it with the simplest of statements.

"No."

In an instant, Asuka was across the cave, her warp scythe drawn and above her head. She started to bring it down, but right when it was about to cleave Kyrtas' head from his shoulders it was torn from her grasp. She spun to see Jim tossing the weapon to Nanius, who caught it and gripped it with both hands. Asuka opened her mouth to speak, but Jim stopped her with an armored finger pressed gently against her lips.

"You need to simmer down," he said quietly.

The statement, though not particularly powerful in itself, had an emotional backing that Asuka read: of apology, forgiveness, and a heartfelt pleading.

At once, she broke down in front of Jim, weeping uncontrollably as she fell to her knees. Jim knelt down, setting his rifle to the side, and wrapped one arm around her and bringing her in to his armored form for a hug. It was at that moment that Nick, Jax and Ayanami caught up with Jim and entered the cavern, their weapons ready.

As soon as they saw what was going on, they all dropped their aim to the ground and watched as Jim held the distraught shadow leader.

"Oh, my, God!" Jax said after a minute, "It's the sexy lieutenant lady!"

Asuka stopped sniffling and laughed a bit, looking up at Jax.

"Yeah, Jax, its me," she said, "I'm back."


	80. Chapter 80

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 80: Flashback**

Jim stood at one of the bunker's gun slits in his armor, his gauss Impaler rifle setting up against the low wall. Nick was slumped in his Reaper armor at the other corner of the bunker, asleep. The system's sun was rising over the horizon, casting a faint orange glow to reflect off of Jim's blue armor.

"How's the sunrise?" a voice asked from behind him.

Jim turned to see Asuka, her rifle slung across her back, leaning against the railing. She wasn't limping and in the lighting looked quite beautiful.

"Yeah, come on over and look at it if you want," Jim suggested of his superior.

"Okay," she said and walked over to stand to the right of him.

The two just stood there for a moment, breathing in the sunrise until Asuka broke the silence.

"You know that guy last night?" she asked.

"The one I shot?" Jim queried.

"Yeah."

"Yep, I know the one."

"Well, I know him."

"So does my bullet."

"You know what I mean, Jim. I know him personally, like we went through training together personally. His name's Traz, I always pegged him as a good guy…" her voice trailed off like she didn't want to talk about it.

"Asuka, you can tell me," Jim offered sincerely.

"What makes you so nice?" she snapped.

"What? I just mean that you can tell me is all," he attempted to answer.

She moved toward him with intent to harm but stopped herself.

"Jim, I'm sorry," she struggled to explain something, "My head's just in a jumble right now, okay? I'll talk to you when I can."

Jim looked at her for a second in hard thought, then said, "It's okay Asuka. Let's just watch the sun for now. We can deal with everything else later."

She looked up and smiled at him.

"Okay Jim, thanks for listening."

Jim shrugged, and in his big bulky armor it somehow came across as heartwarming to Asuka. They both stood for a long while watching the horizon, while Nick snored nearby in his armor.

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"Good flashback," Asuka commented to Jim from where she was walking next to him.

Jim nodded, not taking his eyes off of where Nanius and Kyrtas were walking point for the squad. "It just kinda popped into my head," he attempted to explain.

"Yeah," she said, then after a moment of thought, "I missed you."

"The feeling was mutual," Jim replied.

Asuka nodded, no doubt double-checking his thoughts.

"Do you not like me reading you?" she asked.

"Not a fucking bit," he answered.

"I'll stop," she replied.

"I appreciate that."

A moment of silence passed.

"Hey Jim?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for, um, helping me back there. I realized some things-"

"Wait till we finish scouting the tunnels. We'll talk then," Jim replied, stopping to crouch as Nanius held up a balled fist ahead of them.

He didn't have the time to think about the reason _why _Asuka had broken down. He was resolved to finding out why later, but at the moment he had to concentrate.

"Got it," Asuka replied, and dropped into a crouch herself.

Up ahead, Nanius and Kyrtas were on a ledge overlooking a vast cavern, the walls, floor and ceiling of which were covered by creep. Arrayed around the cavern were various Zerg organic structures, pulsing and twitching as they carried out their various functions that the two Protoss watching them could only guess at.

"There's a hive in the center," Nanius pointed out.

"Interesting," Kyrtas said, "You do know that I will kill you eventually, correct?"

"I look forward to your attempt," Nanius replied without missing a beat, then turned back to where Jim and Asuka were crouching and waved them forward.

They moved up and crouched next to their respective teammates, their weapons held casually at bay.

"What's up?" Jim asked.

"A Brood center," Nanius replied, "One hive plus support structures. No forces sighted."

"And no creatures sensed…wait," Asuka said, holding two of her fingers to her right temple and cocking her head to the side as if listening intently to some far off noise that the rest of them couldn't hear.

"It's him," she said, "Jim, Traz is here."


	81. Chapter 81

**A/N: So here's the final update for StarCraft: Brain Damage. I'm putting my final thoughts at the end of the Epilogue, so until then, have a good read!**

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 81: Motivational Something**

Jim knelt behind a glob of creep the size of a boulder and checked to make sure that the safety on his Impaler was off. It was, and as he followed the business end of the weapon around the size of the purple piece of cover, he felt safe in the knowledge that he could put one hundred rounds of pissed-off into any creature dumb enough to get in between him and his goal.

That goal, which both he and Asuka had decided on while up in the tunnel, was the extermination of the infested Ghost that resided within the main hive building at the center of the creep-covered cavern. So far, their stealthy approach was working quite well and everyone had continued to keep their partner covered.

Kahn and Ayanami had remained up in the tunnel due to the former having a broken rib and the latter being able to fix it. He wasn't a liability, but without his C20 and the ability to move rapidly, Kahn wasn't exactly of prime assistance ability. Jim dashed across the ground, his boots leaving impressions in the creep, and dove to ground behind another lump of creep.

He looked back and saw a blur of bent light moving across the floor as Asuka got into position thirty feet to his right. Following her was Kyrtas, who jumped down next to her and blended perfectly with the ground, just as she had. Jim heard a thud next to him and turned over to be greeted by the beeping face of Jeffy, where he was clamped on Jax's back.

"Jax, you're in the wrong place," Jim whispered.

"No way," Jax said, and took a look at the map being overlaid on his visor, "Oh, I guess I should be over there, shouldn't I?"

"Yup," Jim replied.

Jax clambered to his feet and ran off to get into the correct position, much to the chagrin of Nick, who had been assigned the same position. In theory, they were going to enter the hive from as many entrances as possible by attacking from multiple angles, in a two-by-two formation. All Jim had to do was wait for Nanius to get into position next to him.

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"Not so tight!" Kahn said through gritted teeth.

Ayanami ignored him, instead pulling the field wrapping tighter around his chest to keep the recently repaired rib in the correct location. She tied it together in a knot under his left armpit and pulled her hands back.

"Done," she proclaimed.

"Thanks," Kahn said, beginning to shrug back into his lightweight Ghost stealth armor.

It hurt a bit when he moved it past his newly made field dressing, and he had to do his best to banish the pain from thought. He tapped a button on his wrist computer and the suit hissed out air as it sucked in to fit perfectly around his body like a glove. Rolling over onto his stomach, he crawled up to the ledge overlooking the cavern.

Below him, he could see Nanius dive into position next to Jim, who quickly turned to the Protoss and said something that Kahn couldn't hear but could guess was full of hate for being behind schedule. Nanius' head bobbed in return, and Jim scoffed before rolling over and giving Asuka a two fingered 'engage' signal.

As the team below moved up toward the hive, Kahn thought of something. Rolling over, he looked at Ayanami, who was standing behind watching the rear.

"Hey Rei?"

"Hmm?"

Kahn took a deep breath, having never said this kind of thing before. "Um, when I got off the airbus at the Academy for Ghost Training, a woman told me something. She said, 'when you're in there, you've got to find something to keep you going. Otherwise you won't make it.' I took that advice and made it through training, and out into the real world.

"But somewhere along the line, I forgot what that thing was. I tried that hollow bullshit about the guy next to you, but it doesn't really work for a lone operative," Kahn smiled, "That's when I went rogue. I didn't have anything for a long time. That was…"

"What, Gabe?" Ayanami asked.

"Well, until I found you, Rei," he managed.

"Aw-"

"Don't try and hug me," he said quickly, "In that armor, and with these ribs, I don't think I'd live through it."

Just then, something exploded down below.


	82. Chapter 82

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 82: Good Morning Tarsonis**

"Smooth move!" Jim shouted at Nick as the D18ed remains of a Defiler came crashing down to the ground in wet slabs of charred carapace.

"It could have hurt us!" Nick countered, "I'd rather not have green shit all over me!"

"Well, now you've got red shit, Nick!" Jim continued.

"It matches the armor," Jax pointed out.

Jim was in the process of re-targeting his rage toward Jax when the distinctive caw of a Mutalisk split the air. Spinning, Jim saw the Zerg flier sweeping down from the ceiling of the cave straight for Nanius. He had begun aiming for it when a lance of green light slashed it in half, the pieces falling to the ground harmlessly.

Asuka moved her right hand and the warp blade she had thrown came back to her, before being hurled into the forehead of a Hydralisk. She pulled her warp scythe from its place on her back, snapping both of its blades on in the blink of an eye. She had de-cloaked by this time, and her normally dim eyes had shifted to a glowing, brilliant green.

A cluster of Zerglings emerged from the ground and lunged at her. Jim registered her swipe of the scythe as a mere blur, then saw the Zerglings flying away through the air in pieces, jetting blood. As more Zerg emerged from the ground, the Dogs of War opened fire.

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Traz snapped his eyes open, wondering just what the hell was going on outside his hive, and reached for his C10. After a moment of grasping for it, he got his clawed fingers around its slide and pulled it into an embrace. Still wiping the ichor from his sleepy eyes, he headed to the orifice linking the interior of his hive to the rest of the tunnels.

He willed it open in front of him and a scene of utter chaos was revealed to his yellow eyes.

Terran fired on Zerg, which jumped and clawed back in return. A Hydralisk slammed a Reaper into the ground with the blunt side of its arms and reared back to maul him. A flurry of spikes slammed into the Hydralisk, driving it back off of the Reaper and onto the ground, writhing in pain.

"Fucking hell," Traz muttered, readying his C10 and calling in his elite Hunter-Killer team at the same time.

He looked around and spotted a Ghost and Medic up on an overhang of the cavern, probably spotting for the rest of the attack. Carefully, he brought his rifle up into position and let the crosshair rest on the medic's chest. Traz exhaled all his breath, steadying his shot, and lay his finger on the trigger.

"Boo mother fucker!"

A spike slammed into the hive next to Traz's head, and he ducked just as he fired. The 20mm round, which was thrown off its original planned trajectory, hit the medic in the right arm instead of in the chest. The power tore the limb off at the elbow, and its owner responded accordingly with a blood-curdling scream.

Traz looked over at where the spike had come from just in time to see Jim fire a second shot, this one getting closer to him. Extending his wings, Traz jumped into the air and barreled toward Jim, firing down at him as he went. Jim, for all the heavy armor he was wearing, was still able to jump to one side and avoid Traz's bladed wings, which stabbed into the creep.

The infested Ghost looked up at Jim through the gaps between the bony limbs that passed as his 'wings', locking his yellow cat-like eyes with Jim's circular brown ones.

"You," Traz hissed, "You irritate me."

"Good," Jim replied and jacked the slide on his weapon's rocket launcher, loading another explosive into the chamber.

Traz reacted by lashing out with one of his wings, tearing little bits of creep up in its wake. The serrated tip slashed into Jim's shoulder armor and cut his skin. Jim jerked back and caused the blade to tear more skin as it ripped its way out of its newly found home. Jim triggered his rocket launcher with one hand, firing from the hip.

Traz made a quick movement to the right, dodging the rocket by just enough to keep it from totally searing the skin off of his face. He reached out with two more wingtips and scrapped against Jim's chest armor, peeling back steel as they did so. Servos in Jim's leg armor whined and he leapt back, landing on a loose piece of creep.

The ground broke with an audible crackle and he fell through, sailing down into the inky blackness below.


	83. Chapter 83

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

Chapter 83: Injection

Kahn pressed his hand against the fountaining stump that served as the end of Ayanami's right arm, trying as best he could to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, he the gaps between his fingers allowed more blood to spill out than he could stop.

"Rei, Rei you've got to stop this," he told her, just as an explosion sounded from the cavern below them.

She nodded back, whimpering in pain, and pulled a small gun-shaped injector from her belt. With great effort she managed to stab it into her arm, pull the trigger and watch as the yellow liquid was pumped into her arm. After a few seconds, the bleeding stopped.

"You good?" Kahn asked.

"My arm's missing," she replied, "I could be better."

Kahn ignored her and turned back to the battle below just in time to see Jim fall through the very floor they were fighting on. Traz stepped up to the hole, reloading his C10 as he did so, and Kahn realized that he no doubt had a clear shot down at Jim. Three Ultralisks and a whole lot more Zerglings had just poured into the cavern, so no one down there had the time to deal with Jim's predicament.

But Kahn could, if he had had a weapon with enough range and accuracy to hit Traz from this range. He was about to grab up Ayanami's discarded Impaler and try from where he was on the ledge when something else he could use popped into his head. He cupped one hand around his mouth and shouted down into the basin.

"Jeffy! Get up here!"

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"You know," Traz said as he finished jacking a fresh 20mm round into his rifle, "In all the times that you've managed to shoot me, you have never managed to finish the job."

"Fuck you," Jim called from down in the hole, surprised that he was able to manage that loud a tone.

He was sure his left arm was broken, and was still debating if his right leg would work or not. After reaching around in the dark he had found a bone, a rock, and two other things he didn't recognize from touch, but he hadn't seen hide nor hair of his Impaler. One of his two shoulder lamps was broken, and his visor was shattered into a hundred pieces.

The only light he had at the moment was what was provided by the hole thirty feet above him, a quarter of which was occupied by Traz's grinning face.

"Fuck me?" said the infested Brood-master, "No, no, fuck _you_, Jim Goss. Major of the Dogs of War. That's a cute name, did you come up with it yourself?"

Jim thought about Jones, who had come up with the name back on the derelict Mothership floating out in the boondocks of the sector, and how the man had died by the hand of Zerg, possibly even Zerg commanded by the very creature now taunting him.

"Yes they were mine," Traz said as he read Jim's thoughts, "Did you like them?"

"I'm gonna kill you," Jim promised.

"No," Traz said as he carefully aimed at Jim's head, "You're going to die down there, you dumb fuck."

There was a loud bang and Traz was thrown sideways onto the ground, an injection needle sticking out of his neck. Before he could pull it out, however, the plunger forced itself down and injected sixteen gallons of clear relay disrupter fluid into his bloodstream, bringing the late Dr. Tanner's life's work to its final phase: field testing.

And it worked brilliantly.

Traz was knocked unconscious, and in response his Brood went batty. An Ultralisk turned on a Hydralisk and hacked it in half with an anger-fueled sweep of one of its four tusks. A Mutalisk dove into a group of Zerglings and was promptly torn to shreds by the smaller Zerg types, before they turned on each other and maimed themselves with their sharpened claws.

Jax stopped firing his Impaler and lowered it as he watched two Hydralisks lock scythes and kill each other in a fantastic spray of gore. "What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"Relay Disrupter," Nick answered from where he stood back-to-back with the redneck, "Hey, where's the Probe?"

"Huh? Oh my God, JEFFY NO!" Jax shouted, looking around frantically.

Then he spotted his companion up on the ledge overlooking the cavern, beeping happily as Kahn stowed the BOSUN rifle back in its case that Jeffy had so kindly teleported down with it.


	84. Chapter 84

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 84: Evacuation**

A Hunter-Killer stabbed its second arm into a Zergling's chest just above where it had inserted its first arm and pushed in opposite directions. The Zergling squealed as its lower body was torn from its upper one, but stopped as its heart quit beating. In its rage, the Hunter-Killer looked around for something else to kill.

The entire cavern was littered with piles of dead carapace-covered bodies and the red of blood had almost replaced the purple of the creep, but there was nothing else still living that the Hunter-Killer could tear apart. It was about to simply start tearing into dead bodies when a warp blade sliced its head free of its body. The last bit of nerve impulse from its eyes to its brain registered a red headed Terran woman collapsing the blade and turning away. Then its head hit the ground and ceased functioning.

Asuka walked away as a blast of blood exploded out of the Zerg's neck, looping the warp blade handle on her belt. She felt for her warp scythe and noticed that it wasn't on her back.

"Miss sexy lieutenant lady!" Jax shouted as Jeffy tugged the massive scythe out from under pile of dead Hydralisks, "I found your big stick thing!"

"Thanks Jax," she said and psionically ripped it from Jeffy's gravity field, sucking it through the air and into her grasp.

She gripped its shaft and deftly placed it on her back, then looked around for Jim. During the prolonged chaos that had ensued following Nick's opening D18 blast, she had lost track of his position, a fact that made her question her own abilities. In fact, a lot of things lately had made her question her own abilities, a big one being her earlier breakdown.

Why? She knew why: she hadn't totally put Jim behind her. It was annoying, yes, and she had to resolve the issue if she was to fulfill her goals. The only way to do that, of course, was to put closure on their relationship. But before she could do that, she needed to do two things: find Jim and get the hell out of this cave.

She stepped over to a hole in the ground and knelt down. "Is there anybody in there?" she asked, flipping her black hood up over her head.

"Yeah," Jim's voice replied, a bit weaker than normal, "Is Nick still alive?"

Asuka looked around and spotted the Reaper shooting a dead Ultralisk in the face.

"Yeah," she told the darkness.

"Tell him to get his ass down here and help me up."

Turning on her heel, Asuka cupped one hand around her mouth and shouted, "Nick! Jim needs your help!"

Jumpjets flared and Nick smacked into the creep next to Asuka, the vibrations rippling nearby pools of standing blood. As he jumped down into the hole to help Jim, Asuka felt around the cavern with her mind, searching for Traz's distinctive psionic signal, but found none.

"Man, watch where you're stepping!"

"Sorry. Can't see shit down here."

"Just get me the fuck out of here."

There was a wham of ignition from below and Nick rocketed out of the hole, carrying Jim on his back. The pair made it up twenty feet, where Nick's jumpjets promptly sputtered, coughed, and stalled. They smashed into a pile of dead Zerg, cracking carapace.

"God damnit, Nick," Jim muttered.

"Hey! I just got contact with Katsuragi!" Kahn shouted out as he and Ayanami walked through the dead bodies toward the rest of the team.

Jim crawled up out of the pile he was in, checked his radio unit, confirmed that it was broken and promptly stole Kahn's headset with a quick pluck. He started to put it on when he noticed Ayanami's distinct lack of a right arm.

"What happened there?" he asked.

"Canister round," she answered.

"Need a replacement?" Asuka asked her, "My people can provide one."

Jim was about to inquire about just what the hell Asuka planned on doing when a small voice came out of the headset earpiece in his hand.

_"Kahn? Kahn, are you there?"_

Jim held the headset up into place and replied. "Katsuragi, it's me. What's going on?"

"What's going on is a dropship's being re-routed to your position. Thing's aren't exactly going to plan over here, Jim," she told him.

"Roger that," Jim said and tossed the headset back to Kahn, "Okay, people, evac's inbound as we speak. Split up and find a way out of here."

Asuka pointed up the side of the cavern to where there was a small branching tunnel. "There's your exit," she said, then turned to Kyrtas; "You're going with them. Get this woman the help she needs, got it?"

Kyrtas didn't hesitate a second, not wanting to instigate his superior's wrath again. "Yes, I will."

"Where're you going?" Jim asked Asuka.

"I've got…goals that I need to accomplish," she said, and then dropped her voice to a whisper, "We'll talk when I get back."

"You're assuming that I give a shit," Jim replied and stalked off, careful to clutter his surface thoughts with random images to keep her from deciphering a method to his constant attitude changes toward her.

Asuka, confused and bewildered, walked off in the opposite direction, vanishing into the darkness of another tunnel. Jim led his wary group of men up into the tunnel leading toward the surface, and soon the cavern was silent, save for the quiet breathing of a sleeping threat…


	85. Chapter 85

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 85: Lying Congressional Style**

Jim stood next to the dropship pilot's chair, one hand resting on the headrest as he peered out through the thick glass. A wing of Banshee attack VTOLs rocketed past them toward _Epyon_'s landing site and crested the high peak in front of them, soon followed by the sound of a volley of missiles being fired. The dropship moved over the hill, revealing to Jim's vision the sight of _Epyon_ squatting at the bottom of a massive depression in Tarsonis' surface.

Around the starbase the UED forces were fighting a pitched battle with Zerg air and ground forces. Marines used their massive gattling cannons to cover SCVs, which busied themselves with setting up bunkers, missile turrets and landing pads. In the air, the UED fleet Battlecruisers were using their missiles and laser banks to keep the Zerg airborne organisms at bay.

To Jim it looked like the fable of the little Dutch boy with his hand in the dike.

"Your call, Major," the dropship pilot told him.

"There," Jim said, pointing to a clear spot in the ragged defensive line.

The pilot nodded as Jim turned and reentered the troop compartment, resulting in a pounding roar of the engines hitting him in the ears. Unlike the cockpit, the troop compartment wasn't subject to expensive sound proofing technology.

"Okay, here's the plan. So Jax: stop trying to tickle Jeffy. He's made of metal, you dumb bastard," he started.

"We there yet?" Ayanami asked, holding her stump of an arm.

"Yes," Jim said, "You and Kahn follow our Dark Templar friend here to his ship."

"I am only ordered to assist the woman," Kyrtas put in from where he stood by the ramp.

Jim turned toward him. "Oh really? Because last time I checked, you're Asuka's bitch, making you inadvertently _my _bitch. So you're taking Kahn with you," he said.

"Very well," Kyrtas said at last.

"What would you have the remainder of us do?" Nanius asked.

"Kill Zerg," Jim told him, looking toward the opening ramp.

The squad moved out onto the dirt, looking for something to splatter. Targets were in abundance, as the hastily dug trench that ran around the starbase was under siege by the most Zerg that Jim had ever seen used in a single attack. Zerglings littered the field of battle, dead and dying, as a wave of Hydralisks slithered into combat.

"Blast 'em!" shouted the UED lieutenant in charge of the particular trench segment that the Dogs had arrived at.

The UED gattling cannons boomed, sending bullets into the advancing Zerg. Jim jumped down into the trench and set his Impaler into an open spot on the edge, assuming the standard position for laying down fire on an advancing enemy when stationed in an entrenched position according to Confederate infantry training.

With a quick flick of his thumb the weapon's bolt snapped forward, and was instantly thrown back as Jim squeezed the trigger and the first of many spent casings was ejected. A Hydralisk jerked as a precise burst of spikes hit it in the torso. Jim moved his shots upward until they connected with the creature's head, turning it to chum.

Nick landed next to Jim, armed a D18 charge and hucked it through the air. It latched onto the ground below the advancing Zerg and went off, throwing bloodied body parts into the air like gore-powered missiles.

Jim ducked as an acid spike slashed by too close to his helmet for his liking, allowing it free passage into a UED marine's chest. Jim watched as the kid, not much older than 18 years, slid down the dirt wall of the trench, his eyes glazing over as he did so. When he finally came to a stop, slumped over with blood seeping out of his chest, he was dead.

Jim burst up again, firing wildly at the Hydralisks. His accuracy was, at best, sloppy. But the rounds were doing something, as more than one of the targets he hit were thrown back violently with blood gushing out of their wounds.

Out of this angry haze came the sweet realization that fighting in a trench was doing nothing, and that something had to go.

"Lieutenant!" Jim said, shouting to the man over the booming of another D18.

"What is it, Major?"

"We've got to charge them!"

The lieutenant was too dumbfounded to think, let alone speak, for twenty seconds. Then he finally replied. "That is the single dumbest idea anyone has ever proposed to me!"

"Yeah, you're probably right. What the hell is that behind you!?"

"What?" the lieutenant asked, whirling around to look as he did so.

Jim jabbed a stimpack into a port on the lieutenant's back and forced every bit of its contents into his body. The soldier sighed and slowly turned to look at Jim, opening his mouth to speak.

Jim cut him off. "Lieutenant, we've got to charge them!"

In his new state of mind, the lieutenant thought that the purple panda holding a pelican's idea of charging the self-aware teddy bears was absolutely stupendously brilliant, and gave the order to abandon the trench, albeit in a slurred voice.


	86. Chapter 86

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 86: Both Eyes Open**

Nanius sprang up out of the trench, gaining more air than any of his Terran comrades, and landed in front of a Hydralisk. The creature snarled and swung at him with its arms, which the highly trained Zealot sidestepped. With one quick slash of his psi blades the Hydralisk's spine was severed and it fell to the ground, paralyzed.

Nanius moved on, leaving the task of finishing the creature off to a UED marine. The next marine in the charge, however, did not notice the immobile Hydralisk and suffered a scythe to his Achilles tendon for his mistake. He fell to the ground with a yelp and was promptly stabbed more times in the chest and face by the Hydralisk, who was doing much more than should have been possible in its condition.

Multiple pistol shots broke through the Hydralisk's skull, the bullet holes soon venting blood into the open air. Nick checked to make sure the marine was dead, and raised up to move on when an acid spike hit him in the knee. The injury caused his leg to go out and he fell into a kneel, thereby missing the next acidic projectile by mere inches.

Still grunting in pain, he targeted the Hydralisk who was responsible and emptied the remainder of one of his pistols into it. It stayed standing just long enough for a UED marine to shred it with gattling cannon fire.

"Yeah!" the marine exclaimed, only to have a group of Zerglings mob him.

Nick primed a D18 and threw it in the mass of creatures. One of them stabbed it in mid air, assisting its overall effectiveness. Looking away from the explosion, Nick saw a Banshee barreling down out of the afternoon sky directly toward him, belching flame out of one of its turbofan engines. Twin blue energy blasts hit the Banshee in mid-air and converted it into a cloud of vaporized debris.

A group of Protoss Interceptors swept by, raining precise fire down on the Zerg ground forces and in some cases avoiding the Terran troopers by mere inches. Above the screen of robotic fighters was a concentration of six carriers, looming high above even the highest level of shrieking Mutalisks and Battlecruisers.

"What're the Protoss doing here?" Jax asked.

"Let's not worry about that right now, just accept the help," Jim answered.

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Dust-filled wind blew through the opening in the _Shogoki_'s bridge where formally there had been a window, and Katsuragi had covered her mouth with the collar of her uniform jacket to keep it from filling her lungs. Hyuga, who had done much the same with his own jacket collar, had to spin toward her to be heard over the whistling wind.

"Ma'am, transmission from Admiral Rokubungi coming in on the fleet-wide channel."

"Put it on…" Katsuragi realized that their main screen was destroyed, and changed her mind, "The tactics table."

The table's normal overview of the contested airspace changed to a shot of Gendo. He was dressed in a perfectly clean uniform and behind him Katsuragi spied the walls of his ominous office. The arrogant bastard wasn't even on the _Epyon_'s bridge. She was still in the midst of being angry with him when he said the last thing she expected to hear.

"All ships: target the Protoss vessels."

Instantly, Vice Admiral Fuyutski was on the screen as well, pushing Gendo to half the table. "All ships: belay that last order," he said, his mouth a grim line of disgust.

"I trust you have a good reason for contradicting me, my friend," Gendo said with no hint of emotion.

"So long as you try to attack those we have welcomed as allies, I am in no way your friend," Fuyutski replied.

Gendo was silent for a moment. Outside the open window, Katsuragi could hear the sounds of battle from the fields below, and saw the Zerg air forces trying desperately to get through a screen of defenses that both the Terran and Protoss had combined to create. If the one species stopped, the defenses would fail and the _Epyon_ landing site would be overrun.

Finally, Gendo spoke. "Very well, Kozo, have it your way," he said, "Security Chief Donovan?"

The table was divided again, this time to show a middle-aged man in UED power armor. "Yes Admiral?" he asked.

"Take Vice Admiral Fuyutski into custody on account of treason against the United Earth Directorate."

"Yes sir," Donovan said and signed off, soon followed by Gendo, leaving the improvised screen to an astonished Fuyutski.

The icon at the edge of the screen flickered from 'fleet-wide' to 'private', and Fuyutski locked eyes with Katsuragi.

"Misato, I think it is quite clear what has become of the Admiral," he said, "Leave. Just, take your people and get out of here."

"But you'll be imprisoned," she said.

"Don't worry about me," Fuyutski assured her, just as the security chief showed up behind him and slapped cuffs on his wrists.

The screen went black. Outside, the remaining Battlecruisers angled their noses toward the Protoss carriers, their Yamato guns beginning to glow…


	87. Chapter 87

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 87: Exiting Dodge**

"Man, with these Protoss around, we'll be done with this in no-"

The UED marine's upper body was vaporized as a blast from an Interceptor connected with him. Ashy remains scattered across the surrounding dirt and hit Jim's visor, blackening his vision.

"What the fuck?" he asked, using his hand to clear his eyesight.

"Maybe it just missed," Jax suggested.

A blast hit a marine behind Jax, producing much the same effect as it had on the marine before him. Jax was propelled forward by the heat wave, causing another blast to just narrowly miss him. Jeffy, who was riding on Jax's back at the time, however, wasn't as fortunate. The blue fire splashed across his golden frame, heating the metal to the point where it boiled.

Jeffy emitted a high-pitched electronic whine that sounded eerily like a human scream. He jumped off of Jax's back and shuddered violently as his internal processors fused together into a solid, unworkable mass of metal. Suddenly, the shuddering stopped and Jeffy fell over with a bang as he impacted the hard-packed earth.

A Zergling used Jeffy's immobile form as a springboard to launch itself at Jax. Sixteen 8mm spikes stabbed into the Zergling and tore it apart in different directions. Its blood continued forward, however, and splashed across Jax's white armor, creating a starkly contrasting color pattern. Jax knelt down next to Jeffy and shook him with both hands, shouting the whole time.

"Jeffy! Beep! Boop! Do something, damnit!"

Jeffy, for his part, remained silently offline. Nick grabbed Jax by his arm and hauled him up.

"Jeffy's gone!" he shouted, "We've got bigger things to worry about!"

"Like what!?" Jax countered, "My best friend, hell, my _only _friend is dead!"

Nick looked directly at Jax, locking their gazes. "I'm your friend, Jax," he said.

Jax dropped his Impaler and caught Nick in a bear hug, just as a Battlecruiser slammed nose-first into the ground four acres away, throwing dust into the air and sending Zerglings flying. When the dust cleared, Nick pushed Jax off of him.

"Not in the middle of combat!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry, its just, no one's ever been my official friend before-"

"First rule of friends: don't fucking hug them!" Nick shouted.

"Oh," Jax said, "I'm sorry."

A Hydralisk clawed its way out of the ground between them, snarling and throwing saliva everywhere. Both of them emptied magazines into the creature, pushing it back underground with roughly one hundred more holes than before. Nick looked up to the sky and saw a bright blue flash as one of the Protoss carriers exploded from six Yamato shots to its port side.

Jim and Nanius stepped up next to Nick and Jax, their weapons held ready. With the UED and Protoss concentrating on killing each other, the Zerg were rampaging unchecked throughout the area just outside of the landing site. The UED marines were putting up a fight, but Jim was sure that it would only be a matter of minutes before they, and the Dogs with them, were overrun.

In the light of this knowledge, he opened a channel to the _Shogoki_. "Katsuragi, where the fuck are you?" he asked.

"We're inbound right now," she replied, "Sit tight."

The channel went dead and Jim turned to see the form of an Ultralisk looming above them.

Before he could fire, however, Nanius was in motion. The Zealot jumped up into the air and landed on one of the creature's four tusks. Before it could shake him off, however, Nanius was in the air again. When he was a foot away from the massive Zerg's face, his psi blades popped on. In twin sprays of red the blades were plunged deep into the Ultralisk's skull, meeting its brain.

The Ultralisk howled in pain and Nanius leapt back from it, hitting the ground and rolling to his feet just in time to see his prey come crashing down into the dirt. Jim opened his mouth to compliment Nanius on his performance when a mob of Zerglings crawled over the top of the dead Ultralisk, snarling as they did so.

Jim, Jax and Nick sprayed the wave with Impaler and pistol fire, each individual round killing or maiming another of the little bastards. Nanius crouched in front of them, killing the ones that got to close with deadly precision. A shadow fell across the battlefield and Jim stole a glance skyward to confirm that the _Shogoki_ was coming in for a landing.

The Battlecruiser's landing struts connected with the ground and absorbed the shock of impact with grace. The invasion ramp opened up, and Katsuragi ushered them aboard via the external speakers.

"Fall back!" Jim shouted.

The trio of Terran and lone Protoss turned in unison and ran straight up the ramp, Zerglings tight on their tail. Jim slapped the 'close' button and spun around to see Nick and Nanius fighting to keep the smaller Zerg types from jamming up the hydraulic presses with their bodies. He joined Jax at the center in mowing down the Zerglings that ran straight up the ramp toward the elevator.

Just as the ramp sealed shut, the ship lurched forward, throwing the invasion ramp's guardians to the floor. No sooner had Jim gotten back to his feet than the intercom came on.

_"Bridge. Now."_


	88. Chapter 88

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 88: Regrouping Area**

"What the hell happened there?" Jim asked, pointing at the missing front view port and main screen.

"Corrupter," Katsuragi said as if it explained everything, "Rokubungi betrayed the Protoss."

"So I noticed," Jim replied, leaning his Impaler against the wall nearest the door.

"Right now we're proceeding away from the _Epyon _site just high enough to avoid Zerg anti-air emplacements, but it would help if we had a set heading," Katsuragi told him.

Jim nodded, pulling his gloves off in the process. They couldn't very well leave the planet, as both Kahn and Ayanami were still on the _Epyon_. He wasn't about to abandon them, and even if they had been on the _Shogoki_ he still wouldn't leave. They came here to inject Kerrigan, after all, and that's what he planned on doing.

But they needed a place to re-cooperate and make repairs, especially to the massive hole in the bridge. Then the answer hit Jim like a grenade.

"Bring up a topographical map of the planet," he said, stepping over to the tactics table.

Katsuragi tapped a few commands in and a holographic model of Tarsonis appeared before them. Jim used the controls to zoom in on a valley, from which he scrolled northward to a small depression. Aside from some rocks and shrubs, there wasn't anything in the area at all.

"Uh, Jim? There's nothing there," Katsuragi said.

"No, there's something there. Just something that the Confederates didn't want anything to see," he said, "Full speed ahead, my good captain. You're about to get a first hand look at the laboratory of the late, great Dr. Tanner."

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Ayanami flexed her new limb, an object made out of an advanced form of metal created by, she supposed, the Dark Templar. It had the strength of Neo-steel but the weight of her former flesh and bone arm, which greatly impressed her. Throwing her legs over the edge of the medical bed and standing up, she beckoned Kahn in through the door.

"You okay?" he asked, obviously concerned.

Ayanami held up her metallic black arm and moved her fingers. "Better than ever," she answered with a grin, "I'm debating blowing off the other one just to make them match."

Kahn chuckled. "I don't know if our hosts would like that very much, honey."

"Your knowledge is correct," Kyrtas said as he walked into the medical facility, "These prototypical parts are very expensive to replace. I don't even think that the Mistress herself would be so kind as to supply another."

"In other words: try not to break it," Asuka said as she entered behind her overworked stooge.

"Thanks again, Asuka," Ayanami said and held out her hand to shake.

Asuka shook it without hesitation, something that even Kahn thought he would be anxious about.

"Now unfortunately, your ship has abandoned the battlefield in the wake of Admiral Rokubungi's traitorous actions toward our…brethren," Asuka informed, lapsing back into what Kahn had heard Jim call 'New Asuka'.

Kahn had never met the redhead before her intervention in Kyrtas and Nanius' fight, a quarrel which still had yet to be resolved. She seemed to him to be a woman torn between two paths: one as a human and one as a Dark Templar higher-up.

"Jim left us?" Ayanami asked, unbelieving.

"Yes, but not intentionally. He had to leave before the landing site was overrun," Asuka said.

That shook Kahn out of his thoughts. "Overrun?" he asked.

"Yes," Asuka said, "Don't worry, the Zerg will be fought back eventually, but you need to capitalize on this distraction. With the attack going on, no one would notice if you stole one of our shuttles."

Before Ayanami or Kahn could speak, Kyrtas cut in. "But Mistress, the shuttle would still need clearance to leave the bay doors. In order to give it you would raise to many questions from UED leadership."

"I know," Asuka said, "That's why you're going to do it."

Kyrtas made the psionic equivalent of a sigh and walked off to prepare the shuttle clearance.

"Okay," Ayanami said, "Even if we were to get out of the ship, even if we were to get past all the angry Interceptors, Vikings, Wraiths, Valkryies, Mutalisks, Corsairs, Scouts and all the different kinds of things that can blow us out of the air at the tip of a hat, where the hell are we supposed to go? We don't even know where the _Shogoki _is."

"Yes you do," Asuka said, "He's going back to the bunker."

"Holy shit," Ayanami said, then turned to Kahn, "We've got to go. Right now."


	89. Chapter 89

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 89: New Leadership**

"Traz! Get your incompetent ass out here right now!" Kerrigan boomed as she entered the cavern that Traz called home.

A Hydralisk slithered before her, sweeping dead bodies aside to give her a clear path.

"TRAZ!" she shouted again.

A pile of dead Zerglings moved and a hand appeared, soon followed by the infested body of Traz. He stood up with a force and clarity that Kerrigan had never seen in him before, and it gave her a momentary pause, then she continued forward.

"The entire planet is consumed by war and you are the first thing to fall, to a small team of mercenaries nonetheless!" she fumed.

By now the Hydralisk had reached Traz's position, creating a clear path straight up to him. As it moved out of the way, she stepped up to him to where their chests were nearly touching.

"You have failed me for the last ti-"

Traz gripped her around the neck, stabbed the nearest Hydralisk with on of his wings and used his flak pistol to dispatch of the rest while holding Kerrigan as a human shield. For a minute, in her heightened state of awareness due to instantly created fear, she read deep into Traz's mind and discovered three important things.

One: he had ingested the Disrupter fluid.

Two: it had made him stronger.

Three: he was seriously considering breaking her neck.

"No! Please!"

Traz thought for a second, then abruptly threw her into the hole he had cornered Jim in. Kerrigan landed gracefully and looked up with the intent of simply flying back out and hacking him apart. She did not, however, expect the tidal wave of creep that now bombarded her. In an instant she was covered, struggling to fight her way out of it.

"Go on," Traz's voice boomed in her head, louder and more confidant then ever before, "Struggle against it. It'll only increase the speed with which it puts you into stasis."

Kerrigan stopped struggling. "Stasis?" she asked.

"Yes. I can't afford to kill you, not just yet anyway. You see, Sarah, in order for me to take full control of you, I'll need to do a bit of mind reading and possibly some questioning. In the past twenty seconds I've already gained control of all the Zerg forces on this planet, and after I'm done with the UED and Protoss here, I'll move on to another world. Korhal, maybe, or Shakuras. Hell, maybe Earth needs a visit."

Kerrigan cringed, both from being called Sarah and from knowing that him taking over the forces on Tarsonis was correct. "I can still retaliate with the other Broods!" she shouted.

"Ah, that's where the stasis comes in."

Kerrigan's blood ran cold. If it was due to her helplessness or the stasis setting in, she wasn't sure. The last thing she felt before lapsing into total dreamland was Traz's psionic voice.

"Goodnight, o Queen of Blades. Goodnight."

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Vice Admiral Kozo Fuyutski was born in Kyoto, Japan. He grew up four doors down from Fleet Admiral Gendo Rokubungi, and the two had been great friends their entire lives. Back when they played together on the jungle gym in fourth grade, Fuyutski would have never guessed that in the future he would be in handcuffs being led into his friend's office on counts of treason.

"Life is just full of surprises," he muttered to himself.

"Silence, traitor!" shouted one of the two armored security guards escorting him.

Fuyutski rolled his eyes. The only thing worse than an MP was an MP who overestimated his role in the war machine. The door to Gendo's office slid open and Fuyutski was ushered in at gunpoint. As one guard stood behind him, the other stepped forward and placed Fuyutski's Vauss Luger Special on the desk before Gendo.

_Like an obedient puppy_, the Vice Admiral thought.

"Guards, you may leave now," Gendo said, "And take the handcuffs with you."

The two MPs left, and as ordered took Fuyutski's handcuffs with them. With the door shut, the two old friends were alone in the large, ominous room. Gendo picked up a pad of paper and cleared his throat.

"Kozo Fuyutski, you are charged with treason against the United Earth Directorate, conspiracy to commit treason against the United Earth Directorate, giving conflicting and irrational orders, out stepping your bounds of authority, aiding in treason, and thought crime," he read, "Do you have anything to say before your sentence is carried out?"

"Do you have any godly idea just how crazy you are?" Fuyutski asked.

Gendo chuckled as he calmly put a round into the massive Luger. "Your suicide will be reported as an unfortunate accident, my friend," he said, "I will miss you."

As Gendo leveled the Luger with Fuyutski's head, the only thing that went through the doomed man's mind was how he was sad he wouldn't be around to see the other man's death.

There was a loud bang, then silence.


	90. Chapter 90

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 90: Hypothesis**

Jim kicked in the entrance door to the bunker. It was day now, and he realized that this was the first time he had ever entered the bunker not under the cover of night. As he stepped in and to the right, allowing Jax to move past toward the elevator, he looked around. It was the same as it had been nine months ago.

Nine months.

In a way, it didn't seem like it had been that long; yet so much had changed. He wasn't a Raider anymore and definitely wasn't a private. Instead, he was in charge of possibly the most unique group of individuals in the Korpulu Sector.

"I got it!" Jax yipped as the elevator doors slid open.

"Good work," Jim said, "Nick, Nanius: Get in here."

The Reaper and Zealot entered and followed Jim and Jax into the elevator. Jax punched in a second code and the elevator sped off down its shaft. After a short ride it stopped and opened up to reveal a massive, cavernous underground hanger.

"Well, he wasn't lying," Nick muttered.

Jim merely nodded in reply, scanning the darkened room with his Impaler. When Jax had told the group that there was in fact a place beneath the bunker that could house the _Shogoki_, no one had believed him one hundred percent. Now that he was standing there, however, Jim was forced to change his mind. Jax, for his part, worked yet a third control panel to open up the hanger.

A rumble and grind of gears swept the room, followed closely by a long beam of light appearing at the other end of the tunnel-like expanse. Illumination poured across the gathered men as the heavy steel door finished opening, revealing beyond it the tan wall of a canyon.

"Katsuragi, the way is clear," Jim radioed to the purple-haired captain.

"Roger that. We're moving in," she replied.

Soon the roar of engines swamped them as the battered Battlecruiser weaseled into the enclosure, a tight fit even for as skilled a pilot as Hyuga was. The wings touched a couple of times, creating sparks and an awful screeching noise that, were it not for the armor's audio filters, would have caused Jim's ears ungodly amounts of discomfort. The landing struts touched down on the floor with grace, or as much grace as a steel behemoth such as the _Shogoki_ could manage, and the engines wound down into silence.

Katsuragi and Hyuga exited the ship by rappelling down out of the broken bridge window, walking across the bow and using the same ropes there as well. When they had joined the rest of the group, Katsuragi turned and looked back at the ship.

"She's plenty roughed up, isn't she Captain?" Hyuga asked, sharing her gaze.

"It's been through worse. Remember when we first got back to Braxis?" she replied.

Hyuga laughed despite himself. "Yeah, but at least the bridge was still safe from a vacuum."

"You need steel?" Jax asked, starting to head off in the direction of a storage room, "Right this way!"

"Woah, hold up there cowboy," Nick said, placing a forceful hand on Jax's shoulder.

"What?" Jax asked, obviously excited to be in a place that he was more familiar with than the rest of the group.

"First we check the lab for any weapons," Jim said, "Then we repair the ship. Got it?"

Jax sighed and reluctantly nodded.

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The steel door to the Disrupter lab whooshed aside, assaulting the group with the less-than-appetizing stench of rotting flesh.

"Ugh!" Jax exclaimed first, as he was nearest the door.

"I swear, Zerg smell better than this," Nick muttered.

"If you don't like the smell, then use your damn helmet filters," Jim said calmly as he entered the dark room, "Jax, hit the lights."

A moment later the room was flooded by florescent luminance, casting light across the reason for the stink. In the middle of the floor, next to a folding table with a partially drunken cup of solidified coffee, was the headless body of Dr. Tanner. Blood had leaked from his stumped neck and became a dried splotch on the tile many moons ago, and decay had made his skin a sickly rotting green color.

It reminded Jim of Traz for some reason. Whether it was because of the resemblance of a Zerg to a corpse or vice versa, he couldn't be sure.

"Check around," Jim ordered, "See if there's anything useful here. Hyuga, see if you can boot up the Doc's computer."

As everyone got to work, Hyuga sat down at the terminal in question. It was positioned on a desk painfully close to the dead doctor himself, and it made the helmsman a bit nervous. He booted the screen up and was greeted by a desktop background picture of a man, woman and two young twin girls. Hyuga double-clicked a file entitled 'Disrupter Effects' out of curiosity.

The room's speakers crackled to sudden life and Tanner's voice boomed out of them, giving everyone in the room a start.

"What the hell'd you do?" Katsuragi asked.

"It's a lab recording," Jim realized aloud, "Let it play."

"-the ratio of liquid volume to creature mass would have to be considerably lopsided in favor of the liquid so as to assure the correct effect," Tanner's pre-recorded voice was saying, "I am not sure of what effects the Disrupter would have on a human infested with the Zerg strain, though I can hypothesize. If an infested human were to replace the role of Overmind for the Zerg, an idea that has been talked about on occasion, then injecting them with the Relay Disrupter could have negative repercussions. Not for the Swarm, but for _us_."

The recording abruptly stopped, and Jim began to shout something to Hyuga about finding more data when the group was assaulted by a deafening psionic voice.

"This is the sole surviving Protoss shuttle signaling for help from any allied forces in the area! We are downed in a canyon and require immediate assistance! Zerg are on the approach! This is Executor Ruktoch! Please help us!"

Nanius stiffened sharply to what Jim recognized as attention. "Major, we must help them," he said tersely.

Nanius had saved Jim's life multiple times, and they had come a long way from nearly killing each other from their first meeting upon Braxis so long ago. As a result, Jim did what he would do for any friend.

"Let's go," he said, "If it's the canyon I think it is, then we'll be there in no time."


	91. Chapter 91

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 91: Ride the Lightning**

Jim, Nick, Nanius and Jax exited the bunker just as a black-colored Dark Templar shuttle landed in front of them. It was less angular than its Conclave-designed cousin, with more of a blocky sheen taken into the overall body style and reinforcing the origin that its primary color had already denoted. A hatch opened up on the side and Kahn poked his head out, looking around questioningly.

Jim appeared in front of him. "Move over," he stated bluntly, instigating quick movement out of the Ghost.

As the rescue team filed into the shuttle, the cabin door opened and Ayanami stepped out, her armor not covering the new black arm she possessed.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I'll fill you in once we're airborne," Jim said, taking up a position toward the middle of the troop compartment.

Ayanami shrugged and helped Kahn restart the engines. A moment later they were fifty meters above the badlands.

"Head south," Jim instructed.

"South?" Kahn asked, "Man, we just got out of that hellhole and you're wanting to go right back in?"

"We are mounting a rescue operation," Nanius explained.

"About that," Jim said, "Now that we're on the way, just who the hell are we rescuing?"

Nanius looked away from the passing scenery to look at Jim. "The psionic voice that contacted us was made by many Protoss, but the dominant one was my brother."

"Ruktoch?" Nick put in from where he was standing near the rear of the shuttle.

"Precisely," Nanius answered.

Jim sighed. "Well, if he's half as big a badass as you are, than this could be a blessing from God."

Nanius chose not to respond, instead returning to gazing out the front view port. Jim retreated to the transportation compartment and leaned against a wall next to Jax. Out of one of the small slit-like windows that ringed the compartment, Jim saw a series of Overlords moving alongside them. His suit's sensors said that they were a few miles out, and so weren't an immediate threat.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder if they both had the same mutual destination.

"Hey, we've got something," Kahn said, "Protoss shuttle, downed in a canyon half-a-click out. Looks like we've got survivors. Hell of a lot of Zerg, though."

"Bring us in low, Kahn," Jim said, racking a round into his Impaler, "Okay people, let's rock!"

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Executor Ruktoch of the Yatuj'a Tribe swung at a Zergling with his staff, catching it in the side of the head with a thump. The impact knocked the small creature's head off, sending it flying like some kind of child's ball. In fact, there were a lot of things flying about. The Zerglings attacking the crash site were a kind that Ruktoch had never seen before, with wings situated just behind the typical slashing appendages on their backs.

Using these wings, they were able to glide down embankments such as the ones that flanked both sides of the shuttle that Ruktoch and his brethren were trying so hard to defend.

"Father, support has arrived," stated the Zealot to Ruktoch's left.

He turned to see his son, Hus'ta, standing before him. A full head helmet adorned Hus'ta's head, with small slits made so that he could see the world around him. In fact, there wasn't a place on the young Protoss' body that wasn't covered by golden armor. Two psi blades jutted from Hus'ta's twin gauntlets, and hanging attached to his forearms were large barreled devices designed for launching scaled down scarabs.

"Where?" Ruktoch asked of his son.

Hus'ta pointed skyward, and Ruktoch followed the gesture to see a Dark Templar shuttle as it maneuvered into the canyon. It touched down and opened its hatch, allowing for the Dogs of War to pour out onto the battlefield, sending waves of confusion throughout the assembled Protoss warriors. The lead marine put a series of spikes into a Zergling, nailing it to the side of Ruktoch's downed shuttle.

The marine stepped up to Ruktoch and held out his hand. "Name's Jim Goss. We heard you could use some help."

Ruktoch was about to shake Jim's hand when he saw a Zealot exit the Dark Templar dropship, activate his psi blades and slice a Zergling in half. Another Zergling jumped toward the Zealot and was promptly stabbed twice in the stomach. The Zealot hurled the stuck Zergling back into a crowd of its friends where stray sickles tore it apart.

"Brother?" the Zealot inquired, looking directly at Ruktoch.

Realization struck the Executor. "En Taro Adun, Nanius," he said, putting a fist to his chest as greeting.

Nanius abruptly put out his hand, ignoring the typical Protoss greeting in favor of a very Terran one. Ruktoch stared blankly at the outstretched hand.

"Boys, finish the awkward moment later?" Jim asked, gesturing his Impaler at the closing winged Zerglings.

"Absolutely Major," Nanius answered, swinging into combat with a Hydralisk as he did so.

Over the years, Nanius had dispatched more Hydralisks than he could count. In fact, he nearly had it down to a mental tree of moves and counter-moves, basing his tactics around that of his opponent. However, all of the tree's branches were based on the idea that his opponent, the sadistic and formidable Hydralisk, never changed: always possessing the same twin scythe arms, array of acid spikes, rows of teeth, and lengthy tail.

So when Nanius leapt into the air, did a handstand on the creature's head, and started to come down behind it, he wasn't exactly prepared for a flurry of razor-sharp spines to slash up at him from the Hydralisk's back. He pulled his head back as far as it would go, avoiding the spines by mere inches. Nanius landed in a crouch, watching as the Hydralisk whipped around to face him.

Those spines ruled out hitting it from its unprotected back, effectively cutting off a branch of his movement tree. With a contempt sigh, Nanius launched himself at the Hydralisk. He blocked a scythe blade with one of his psi-powered ones, sending sparks flying across the dirt around them. He did the same with the second of the Hydralisk's sharpened appendages, leaving him in a struggle of strength. The Hydralisk pressed, forcing him back with a strength that he had never encountered before in this particular Zerg warrior strain. If the fight continued like this, he would lose.

A bolt of cascading blue lightning smashed into the Hydralisk's side, sending it flying to the ground with half of its body melted away. Ruktoch jumped on it and used a small blue blade emitting from the very skin of his hand to end its life with a strike directly to the brain.

"Brother, take note: a quarrel, no matter how savage the opponent, should be as elegant as I have demonstrated," Ruktoch said, the small blade diminishing to nothing, "Perhaps you have spent too much time amongst your Terran companions to remember what it is to fight as a warrior of the Protoss."

An Ultralisk bellowed from south of the shuttles and charged, flinging smaller Zerg out of its way as it came. A trio of Zealots jumped in front of it, intending to slice into its legs and render it immobile. The Ultralisk opened its mouth and released a roar that brought with it a spray of searing acid, which ate through the three brave Zealots. They fell to the ground, squirming in agony as the fluid reduced them to smoldering heaps.

Hus'ta stepped out from behind a rock and calmly launched two tactical scarabs out of his arm launchers. The small robotic drones careened through the air on what seemed like haphazard paths. At the last minute, they veered in and collided with the Ultralisk's head, pulping it from two different angles. A torrent of blood mixed with acid erupted from the remains of the Ultralisk's face, creating a steaming waterfall of gore that poured over the combatants, melting both the living and the dead.

"You imply that _my _comrades are less than elegant?" Nanius retorted to Ruktoch.

Ruktoch emitted the mental equivalent of a dissatisfied grunt and turned to Jim. "You came to evacuate us?" he asked.

Jim eyed him with a less than satisfactory glare and thumbed toward the waiting space-black shuttle. "Yeah," he said, "Get on when you're ready."

Ruktoch pushed past Jim, shouting to his few remaining Zealots. "Come my warriors! For though Hus'ta has stalled their advance, more are sure to arrive shortly!"

"I am sure he will learn to appreciate your species," Nanius told Jim as more Zealots boarded the rescue shuttle, then added, "Just as I have."

Jim noted Nanius' veiled way of showing his liking, and responded with a similarly vague statement.

"Really? Because he seems just so cherry."

With that, he followed the rest onto the shuttle.


	92. Chapter 92

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 92: Disruption**

Kahn eased the Dark Templar shuttle into landing next to the _Shogoki_, just under its right wing. Compared to the Terran Battlecruiser, the shuttle appeared little. What appeared even smaller was the group of beings that exited the shuttle, principally the Terran ones, though the Protoss weren't much taller. Jim held his Impaler loosely and turned to Ruktoch.

"Welcome to our bunker," he said, "Accommodations aren't five star, but no Zerg are allowed on the premises, so its better than everywhere else on this planet. Sergeant Nanius?"

"Yes Major?" Nanius asked.

"Please show our friends around. Lend them the ship's cargo bay for living quarters," Jim said, already heading for the door leading to the rest of the complex.

Nick and Jax followed, keeping up a quiet conversation about what to call the slightly different Zerg forms that they had encountered during the recent rescue mission. It basically amounted to Jax brainstorming ideas and Nick turning them down.

"Wingling."

"No."

"Screamling."

"No."

"Slaughterlisk."

"No."

Jim ignored them, taking off his helmet and scratching his head. He knew without even looking in a mirror that his hair was messed up beyond all recognition. He hadn't seen a comb in what seemed like an eternity, or at least since the last time he was in his cabin on the _Shogoki_.

"Angerlisk."

"I don't even know what to say to that."

Sighing in the process, Jim opened the door to the main laboratory and entered to see Katsuragi standing over Hyuga's shoulder as he worked at a computer console. By the expressions on their faces, Jim could guess that whatever the terminal had to tell them was less than fantastic news. Jim stepped over to the table and leaned against it. Amazingly, the table held against his suit's bulk.

"What's happening?" he asked Katsuragi.

She looked up at him, a frown on her face. "The Disrupter didn't work," she said.

"How do you figure?"

"According to all the data we've been able to scrounge up out of Tanner's database, which is quite extensive I might add, there is nothing to indicate that it would hurt Traz's brood at all. In fact, it's most likely made him stronger."

Jim felt his blood go cold. Everything they'd worked toward for all these months, everything they'd dreamed about, everything they'd thought about, had no chance of working. And they'd already tried it! People had died for this! The only silver lining, if it could even be called that, was that at least they hadn't strengthened Kerrigan, only her pawn.

"What's it done, exactly?" Jim asked.

"Jim, this data is a few years old," Katsuragi told him, "The chances that the details are actually correct are…astronomical."

"We're fighting alien parasites that use infested humans as their leaders and then try to eradicate humanity by flying from planet to planet in giant living ships made out of hodgepodge body parts and goo. I'd say this whole situation is pretty fucking astronomical," Jim said, "So try me."

"Hyuga?" Katsuragi asked.

"Yes Ma'am," the officer said, then started babbling off what he'd found, "Acting in the perfect interests of the Swarm, the Relay Disrupter fluid would be capable of morphing current Zerg strains into multiple off-shoots specific to any combat situation encountered. Essentially creating the perfect Swarm This is, of course, after the affected subject has taken complete control over the Zerg."

"Your data's accurate," Jim said, rubbing his head, "We just ran into flying Zerglings in the canyon."

"Winglings!" Jax shouted.

"Shut up," Nick and Jim muttered at the same time.

"So what should we do?" Katsuragi asked, absently checking to make sure her sidearm was still in its holster

Jim's first instinct, though very impulsive, was to get in the _Shogoki_, destroy the rest of the Disrupter fluid somehow, then track the batch that was within Traz's veins, find him, and put a spike through his skull. But then Kerrigan would take power again, and her superior strategic skills would spell the doom of the UED forces, who no matter how badly Jim thought of them still had the Mercer Doomsday Device.

So, Jim ignored his first instinct and went to the second one.

"Call our Protoss friends up here. We've got to get a plan of action together," he told Kahn, who had just entered the room.

The Ghost spun abruptly on his heel and marched out to find the requested subjects.


	93. Chapter 93

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 93: Protoss Hello**

Kyrtas stepped aside as two MPs exited Gendo's office carrying the headless, bloodied body of Vice Admiral Fuyutski on a stretcher between them. He walked through the door after they had passed, his cloak flaring behind him, outlined by light to make him seem as dark as a black hole. The UED Admiral sat behind his broad desk, sipping a bit of scotch and looking out of the large window, facing away from the door.

Beyond the thick glass Kyrtas could see the landing site lights coming on in the setting sun, which wasn't in the direction they were facing and didn't interfere with the scenery. The entire look of the planet promised a coming darkness, a thought that delighted the shadow-dwelling Kyrtas more than anything else could on this worthless, infested excuse for a planet.

"You want to be out there, don't you?" Gendo asked without turning around, making Kyrtas briefly wonder if the man was telepathic as well.

"Why did you call me here?" Kyrtas asked, remembering that he had a menial task to perform for Asuka.

At this, Gendo finally turned around in his chair to face Kyrtas, a glass of scotch in one hand and Fuyutski's massive pistol in the other. The Admiral smiled a bit, setting the pistol down on his desk next to a thick lot of papers held together by an overworked paper clip. Gendo took his time finishing the rest of the scotch and began talking.

"I've watched your interactions with your…mistress. You don't like her very much, do you?"

Kyrtas responded with silence.

"One could even say that you hate her, don't you Kyrtas?"

Eventually Kyrtas responded. "One could say that, yes."

"Hmm," Gendo murmured.

The Earth-born human popped the cork on his scotch bottle and poured himself another glass, calmly measuring it with the care of a doctor preparing a syringe for a lethal injection. Kyrtas, for his part, grew more impatient, but did not say anything as he wasn't about to be out waited by a Terran.

"You no doubt noticed the body of the traitor Fuyutski being removed as you entered," Gendo said abruptly.

Kyrtas merely nodded.

"You, also, no doubt know of yet more traitors," Gendo said, "Specifically, the kind with a certain Protoss Zealot in their midst."

"What is it you need?" Kyrtas said, sensing just whom he was talking about.

"I don't know if you're familiar with the human term scratching each other's backs, but I was hoping we could do something like that," Gendo said.

"Specify, if you please," Kyrtas said.

"Simple," Gendo said, "You bring me the head of Major Jim Goss and company, and I'll give you that of your little 'Mistress'."

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"I assume you did not deliberately join these Terran after leaving us," Ruktoch said, standing still as a statue before Nanius in the _Shogoki_'s cargo bay.

"You assume correctly, brother," Nanius answered.

"Then how did you come to be in their company?" Ruktoch pressed.

"They were with us on Braxis," Nanius explained.

"'Us'?"

"Massadar's Rebels," Nanius answered.

At this, Ruktoch scoffed. "Massadar was an imbecile," he said, "Leaving the ways of the Kahla to pursue the life of a drifter."

"Freedom," Nanius corrected quietly.

"Freedom? What more freedom is there then that in the Kahla? A place where all Protoss are in perfect union?" Ruktoch asked.

At this, Nanius fumed loudly enough that his psionic voice moved crates. "Are you so fast to forget that it was that very union that drove our father to his death?! You still question why I left, even after you saw first hand, just as I had, the treachery of the Conclave!" Nanius boomed, remembering with vivid clarity the blood on the council floor, "You speak of union? I have found none greater than that which has been forged between my comrades and I during these past few months. If you had left with me, as I had suggested, you could have experienced it as well."

Ruktoch, clearly angered by Nanius saying these things in front of his tribal brethren, replied in earnest. "I stayed behind like the warrior that I am, that I thought _you _were as well! I stayed and showed our tribe the error of its ways, taking father's place. And when Aiur fell and the ways of the Kahla were abandoned to side with the dark ones, I fought to keep it alive within our tribe if no where else," Ruktoch stated, then added boastfully, "Our warriors still practice it."

"Your drones," Nanius corrected, "The Kahla does not bolster their skill, only hinder it."

"Take back your foul words!" Ruktoch shouted, his eyes flaring in hatred.

"No," Nanius said simply.

At once, both Protoss warriors were in movement. Ruktoch jumped at Nanius, swinging wide with his staff toward his brother's head. Nanius stepped under it and to the left, grabbing Ruktoch's leg in the process. He yanked the High Templar down to the ground and pounced atop him, activating his psi blades in the process.

He landed on Ruktoch's chest and held his left psi blade an inch from the Executor's throat. "Though you follow a wrong and corrupt path, you are still my brother. That is why you were rescued. I could have informed Major Goss of your wrongful ways and allowed you to be devoured by the Swarm."

"Then why didn't you pursue this course of action?" Ruktoch asked, mindful of the unwavering blue blade positioned near his chin.

"Because, brother, I believe you can see the truth," Nanius said so privately that Ruktoch wondered if he had possibly imagined it.

Suddenly, a waver of heat became present near Nanius' left cheek, and he turned slowly to see the massive barrel of one of Hus'ta's scarab cannons.

"Please remove yourself from my father's chest," the younger Zealot stated calmly.

"Nanius, meet your nephew, Hus'ta," Ruktoch said snidely.

The sound of a C10 canister rifle cambering a round was heard, and Hus'ta's eyes widened as the cold steel of a barrel was pressed to the base of his neck. Silently, he cursed taking his full head helmet off.

"Hus'ta, son of Ruktoch, it is my pleasure to introduce Gabriel Kahn," Nanius said gracefully.

"Hello everybody," Kahn said, not taking his finger off where it rested on the trigger, "Are we all gonna play nice, or do I have to splatter little boy here's head all over the floor?"

Nanius collapsed his psi blades and Hus'ta lowered his scarab cannon. "Everything is fine, Gabriel," Nanius told his friend, "We were just having a…Protoss hello."

Kahn looked at him with an expression showing great skepticism. "Yeah, I'm sure. Jim wants us all in the lab. Pronto."


	94. Chapter 94

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 94: The Last Briefing**

"Major, I would like to extend my thanks for rescuing the remainder of my tribe," Ruktoch told Jim, "If there is anyway in which we can repay you for your gratitude-"

"There is," Jim said, cutting off the Executor. He was tired, and the booming of a psionic voice was only serving to increase the strain on his headache.

"What is it?" Ruktoch pressed.

"Look, can you just read my fucking mind and get this bullshit meeting over with?" Jim asked, "I mean, seriously, we've got more important things to do right now than sit around and talk about how the Zerg have changed. All my people already know, so what I'd like to do is just have you spread it around to your people so we can discuss the work at hand, which also happens to be how you can repay us."

"Very well," Ruktoch said, pretending with no success that he wasn't offended by Jim's bluntness.

After a minute everyone in the room, Terran and Protoss alike, knew how the Disrupter had caused Traz to take control over the Zerg and generate new strains such as Winglings.

"Okay, now take a seat," Jim said, leaning against the coffee table.

He was out of his armor by now and simply wore a T-shirt and cotton shorts, a dressing manner that suggested just how confident Jim was that the bunker was the safest place to be on Tarsonis at the moment. Clearing his throat, he started in on the plan he had roughly developed.

"The way I see it, we all came here for the same reason: to kill Zerg. And no matter what your opinion is of Admiral Rokubungi, the bastard is going to kill a hell of a lot of Zerg," Jim said, not bothering to mention that would only happen if the Mercer worked better than the Disrupter did, "So we've got to make sure that happens. It is imperative that the Mercer goes in the ground and destroys this planet."

Jim moved aside and let Hyuga get up in front of the assembled people, nearly hiding behind his clipboard as he did so. "Okay, so according to our information on the Mercer Device, it would take it exactly three hours to complete the destruction of a world exactly like Tarsonis. It accomplishes this in three stages. First it disrupts the core, starting preliminary shakes and the beginnings of volcanic eruptions and lava flows. Second it sends ripples throughout the mantle, which causes massive plate movement and larger lava flows. Finally it sends the core into an explosion which shakes the crust like a blanket and totally destroys the surface of the world."

Jim stepped back up and gently pushed Hyuga aside. "So we obviously can't be here during that third stage," he said, electing a few laughs from the assembled Terran, "Meaning, that we have to accomplish our goal within the first two hours of the Mercer's effect."

"And that goal is?" Nick put in from where he stood in between Jax and Ayanami, who by now was holding Fluffy.

"Kill Traz," Jim said.

"Cut off the head of the snake-" Ruktoch started.

"-And the body dies," Jim finished, "Precisely. By that time the planet will be so far gone that even if Kerrigan got power back she wouldn't be able to move them off-world."

"If she's even alive," Ayanami said.

"Now wouldn't that be swell?" Jim muttered, then said more loudly, "So for right now we just have to wait for Gendo to drop that bomb. What do you think, Ruktoch?"

"My tribe will assist you whenever they are needed," Ruktoch said, "En Taro Adun!"

As everyone in the room burst into cheers Jim rubbed his temples and pushed through the crowd, unknowing that he was being watched from the rafters above.

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Traz stepped into Kerrigan's inner sanctum, or more correctly, _his_ inner sanctum. Around him was a Praetorian Guard of altered Hydralisks. Even fiercer than the spine-backed model an Overlord had overheard being called a Slaughterlisk, these elite versions possessed more complex reflexes, spines as long as Traz's own wings, and twin scythes on each arm, allowing for even more vicious cuts.

After hearing the designation of the original, he decided to call these twelve Slaughterlisk Elites. Each of them had an individual name, and Traz was planning on giving them each a brood to control, making them the next generation of Cerebrate. Of course, that wouldn't be until he finished his work here on Tarsonis, as they still had much to do.

From this position at the epicenter of control for the Zerg, Traz could convert every last creature in the Sector to his control, and his ascension to power would be complete. Closing his eyes, the former Ghost spread his influencing psionic tendrils across the cosmos, enveloping all Zerg-based life along the way. His mind was assailed with a thousand different images of just as many different planets.

Char. Aiur. Mar Sara. Attica. Hackdirt. All of them ripe for expansion and domination.

When Traz opened his eyes, he felt ready to conquer the universe. But first, he would start with that pesky UED landing site.


	95. Chapter 95

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 95: Enter Omegalisk**

Corporal Daniel Hemlock stood in the darkness of his trench, looking across the area just outside of the landing site. He was precisely one hundred yards away from the nearest spotlight, and as a consequence he was using his combat suit's night vision feature to observe the terrain through a green tint. Before the most resent Zerg attack, Hemlock had been a mere private. Due to a death in his squad, however, he had been promoted.

Of course, all the other privates were dead as well, so he wasn't really in command of anything. But still, he'd been promoted and received an increase in pay, which Daniel Hemlock saw as a marked improvement in his military career.

Through the green, Hemlock saw a shape moving against the blackness. In fact, it was a very big shape. So big, in fact, that Hemlock wondered if somehow a Battlecruiser was stationed outside the landing site and had begun to roll down a hill. He was still in the process of deciding if he should report it or not when it got close enough to where Hemlock could make out a foot the size of a Behemoth-class ship's landing strut.

It was the last thing Hemlock saw before he was crushed.

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Traz stood atop the massive creature he had dubbed the 'Omegalisk'. Though it bore resemblance to the Ultralisk, the Omegalisk towered above its predecessor. So much, in fact, that in theory it would be able to pick up Terran Battlecruisers and throw them using the four massive segmented tentacles folded against its back.

From where he was standing on the edge of an armored plate on the left side of the creature's head, Traz looked down on the _Epyon_'s landing site like it was a toy set. Traz indicated the nearest Battlecruiser where it was parked on the ground and the Omegalisk lumbered forward, preparing to test its master's theory. The creature had been a bitch to make, and the last thing Traz wanted at the moment was to be wrong.

Ground crews screamed as four tentacles came out of the darkness and tore through the top of the Battlecruiser, forcing their way through each deck as if the ship were made out of toilet paper. Bursting through the bottom deck, the tentacles hooked around the landing struts and secured a tight grip on the massive Neo-steel warship.

The Omegalisk bellied up to its prey, getting in a better position for lifting. In the process, it also caused the remaining ground crews to flee in indescribable terror. Some marines turned around halfway to the trenches and fired up at the Omegalisk. The rounds, so deadly to an Ultralisk, weren't even felt by its titanic cousin.

Steel groaning against the pressure applied by carapace-covered flesh, the Battlecruiser was lifted into the air, and with a mighty display of effort on the part of the Omegalisk, was thrown forward at the starbase that served as the centerpiece for the UED base camp. Traz, who was already orgasmically delighted that his theory was correct, almost couldn't contain his glee when he saw where the Battlecruiser was headed.

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Gendo sat calmly sipping his scotch in this darkened office, the stereo system built into the ceiling cranking out classical music loud enough to where he was oblivious to the battle going on outside. He had just put his feet up on the desk when a loud crash ripped through his calm little world as the bridge of a Battlecruiser tore off the roof of his office as it hurtled, inverted, over the top of _Epyon_.

Gendo looked up just in time to see the night turn to day as the Battlecruiser exploded in a nuclear fireball when it landed in a row of its kin. Standing, Gendo looked out through the shattered remains of his unbreakable window as Ultralisks, Zerglings and Hydralisks alike ran in between the legs of the Omegalisk, determined to kill as many humans as possible.

Reaching over, Gendo picked up his desk phone. "Captain Conner? This is Admiral Rokubungi. Is the device ready?"

Conner began to respond, but the phone was soon ripped from Gendo's hand. The UED admiral watched in astonishment as Traz casually crushed the phone into a small, compact clump of plastic with one clawed hand. Dropping the useless device, Traz turned to Gendo, a yellow-teethed grin adorning his face.

"Admiral Rokubungi," he cooed, "Your troops are delicious."

Gendo's mouth sagged, unable to speak in the face of a creature clearly more insane and dangerous than even he was capable of becoming. Finally, he thought of something to stall time.

"What is it you want?" he asked, edging toward the massive Vauss Luger on his desk in between him and the infested Ghost.

Traz laughed a deep, gurgling laugh. "I should think that a great strategist such as yourself would be able to realize what I want," he said, "Your death and that of your men."

"You've overestimated me," Gendo said, shrugging. Almost to that Luger…

"Yes," Traz said, locking his flaming yellow eyes with Gendo's faded brown ones, "And you're underestimating me."

Suddenly, one of Traz's razor wings stabbed through Gendo's wrist and pinned his arm to the desk, mere inches away from the Vauss Luger's hilt. Gasping in pain, Gendo wrapped his other hand around the wingtip to try and pull it out, but only succeeded in cutting his palm. Two more wings stabbed into Gendo's back and pulled him off of the ground. Unfortunately, his pinned arm remained where it was, and was crudely ripped from its socket in the process.

"Are you familiar with the concept of a vampire, Admiral?" Traz asked, picking up a broken shard of glass from the ground in the process.

Gendo, in to much pain from loosing an arm to respond, merely continued screaming. This did not distract Traz from his monologue, however.

"See, vampires feed on the blood of humans. Lots of people think that infested humans like Kerrigan and myself are vampires, since we have fangs and occasionally lick up blood. That's incorrect," Traz said, slowly inserting the shard of glass into Gendo's chest, "You see Admiral, it's UED people like you that are the vampires: sucking the blood of this sector like milk from your mother's breast. When will you learn? The Korpulu Sector is untamable!"

Traz plunged the glass through Gendo, far enough to where it broke through his back in a spray of blood that arced over the broken window behind the Admiral and down to the waiting Zerg below, who lapped it up greedily.

"Goodbye, Admiral," Traz said, and tossed the man's body over the side and into the swarming masses below.


	96. Chapter 96

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 96: Let There Be More Light**

Nanius laid down his hand, instantly electing negative responses from the Protoss and lone Terran sitting at the table with him. Following the end of Jim's briefing, Katsuragi, Hyuga, Ruktoch and the rest of the Dogs had retreated to the Shogoki, leaving Kahn, Nanius and the warriors of the Yatuj'a Tribe behind in the laboratory. In light of nothing else to do, they instantly reverted to playing poker, and even though there were now more Protoss playing, Nanius still reigned supreme as poker god of the world.

Of course, they had just learned how to play, but no matter.

"Well, I have to say that's about enough for me," Kahn said, folding and standing to head out the door.

"Fair well in your dreams," Nanius told him, sharing a high-five with his friend as the Ghost shuffled past him to the door.

Just as Kahn reached the door, a Dark Templar fell from the rafters, warp blades glowing as green as its eyes. Before any of the Protoss sitting at the table could react, Kahn had his C10 out in one hand. He fired once, reloaded, twice, reloaded, thrice and hit the door with his back just as his target's face met the tiled floor, blood oozing from its pulped chest.

Nanius looked from the dead Dark Templar to Kahn and nodded in thanks. Kahn started to smile back when the green sheen of a warp blade appeared out of his chest, blood leaking from around it. Kahn's eyes locked with Nanius' own as the blade was pulled out of his spine, retreating back through the door that it had cut through.

Kahn slumped to the floor and the door opened behind him, revealing twenty-seven Dark Templar, and in the front with a gleaming warp blade fresh with blood on it, was Kyrtas. The shadow warriors entered the laboratory, paying the dead form of Kahn no mind as they fanned out across the entrance and faced the seventeen Zealots gathered at the bottom of the main pit area where the card table was set up.

One of the Dark Templar closed and locked the door with the keypad on the wall adjacent the entrance, before turning and resuming his place in the phalanx of black cloaks and green blades.

Kyrtas leveled his gaze with that of Nanius, and growled in a mental voice that reverberated around the room, "You and I have unfinished business."

"I had hoped to keep this fight honorable," Nanius said, bristling with barely checked rage, "But you have slain a man more a brother to me than my own blood."

Kyrtas, unable to contain his eagerness for combat any longer, leapt forward, his cloak flaring up behind him. Nanius' psi blades popped into existence and moved up to block just in time to intercept Kyrtas' own gauntlet-projected blades. Using the pressure against Nanius' blades as a pivot point, Kyrtas forced his feet into his opponent's chest and sent him tumbling back onto the card table, which miraculously held.

Well, until Kyrtas jumped on top of him. The table's legs snapped, blowing splinters out in all directions and sending the two combatants down four feet. Kyrtas stabbed at Nanius' face, who ducked out of the way, sending the green blade breaking down through wood and tile. Nanius stabbed crossways toward Kyrtas' temple.

The highly trained Dark Templar grabbed Nanius' wrist with his free hand and stopped the blade inches away from his head, locking them both in a stalemate. Quickly, as if by mutual consent, the two separated into standing stances once more, then came back together like magnets. Around them, the two groups of Protoss collided in a mass of swinging, stabbing and slashing blades as black and green met gold and blue.

The two figures at the center of all this carnage, however, weren't phased by any of the commotion around them, as each was both singularly focused on the other. Nanius swung at Kyrtas' midsection, which was evaded by a quick jump back. Nanius pressed in closer, blocking both of Kyrtas' forward strikes chestward by pushing them to the side from inside.

As consequence, their chests collided, and Nanius made good on his promise to forgo any honor in the fight as he smashed his forehead into Kyrtas' face. Kyrtas stumbled back and Nanius kicked him in the gut, sending him backward into the railing that separated the lower laboratory from the pathway that surrounded it.

Nanius rushed toward his opponent and swung, but only cut the air, as Kyrtas had jumped up onto the railing. Kyrtas didn't remain on his new perch for more than a split second before jumping toward Nanius again, his warp blade intending to slice him in half. In order to evade it, Nanius jumped back, but lost his footing in the process on a pool of blue blood.

Landing on his back, Nanius was soon joined by Kyrtas, who once again tried to stab at Nanius' face with his warp blade. Nanius grabbed Kyrtas' wrist, holding the gleaming green blade at bay. Kyrtas grabbed Nanius' other wrist and held it to the ground, locking them in position once more. Nanius struggled against his opponent, trying to keep the warp blade from entering his head.

Pain sizzled through Nanius' brow as the blade made a shallow cut that traveled downward, hovering over his eye for a perilous moment, before moving on down his cheek to end at his chin in a cut that wept blue blood down his face.

"Do you see the void approaching?" Nanius asked his opponent, still holding back the green blade.

"You ignorant fool. The darkness of the void resides within my very being!" Kyrtas answered, breaking free of Nanius' grip and pulling his blade back for a final strike to his opponent's chest.

"In that case," Nanius said, "Allow me to show you the light."

Kyrtas' eyes went wide as Nanius' blade entered his neck, and stayed like that as fell to the ground. His neck spewed blue blood across the tile floor, and Nanius pushed his body aside, letting it fall to the same position that Dr. Tanner had died in so long ago.


	97. Chapter 97

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 97: The Death of a Friend**

Jim pounded his armored fist on the laboratory doors. The sounds of battle from within had stopped a minute ago, and it was about time someone opened up. Jim readied his fist to pound again when the doors swished apart, causing Jim, Nick and Ruktoch to swing their weapons up into place to attack who ended up being Nanius.

Behind Nanius, Jim could see Hus'ta and two other Zealots finishing off a handful of Dark Templar that tried to crawl away, leaving their severed limbs behind in the interest of bugging out as fast as possible.

"What happened?" Jim asked.

"Kyrtas attacked with his fellow shadow ones," Nanius explained, "Where is Ayanami?"

"Was it Asuka?" Nick asked.

"No, the Shadow Mistress did not lead this attack," Nanius said, "Where is Ayanami?"

"She's back on the ship, sleeping I think," Jim said, "Why?"

Nanius, had he been human, would have taken a deep breath before speaking. "Kahn is dead," he said quietly.

Jim looked down at his feet, but on the way was caught in the lifeless gaze of Gabriel Kahn, who's body was still laying right by the door he had died against.

"Say you got that bastard," Jim said.

"I cleaved his head from its mount," Nanius said, bitterly.

The group shared a moment of silence in honor of their fallen comrade. Faintly, they heard the sound of someone clapping. The sound grew louder and louder until Traz emerged from the shadows off to one side of the laboratory door, his C10 held under one arm to allow his hands room to clap.

"Good show, Dogs of War," he said dryly, "It almost brought a small, bloody tear to my eye."

Jim, and everyone else in the hallway for that matter, brought their weapons up to bear on Traz. Nanius snatched up Kahn's C10 and aimed that, holding a projectile based weapon for the first time in his life.

"Oh, you're going to shoot me?" Traz asked mockingly, "That's never turned out good, now has it Jim?"

"Seems to work just fine from where I'm standing," Jim said, "If all that slime just didn't make you so slippery."

Traz laughed, an insane cackle that sounded both inside and outside of one's head. "Ah, Jim, you always joke," he said, making a quick motion behind him, "But now I get to laugh."

A series of Slaughterlisk Elites slithered forth, slime dripping from their clenched teeth. One of them, the one to Traz's right, held Jax in its scythe arms.

"No," Jim breathed.

"Yes," Traz corrected, "I would be lying if I said he was sleeping on guard duty." The infested Ghost gestured to the Slaughterlisk Elite that held Jax. "He actually put a spike in Draffos here."

Draffos hissed in reply, emitting a feeling of seething anger toward the man he held captive.

"Don't worry about me guys!" Jax said, "I'll kick this son of a bitch's ass! Just as soon as I get turned around."

"No you won't Jax," Jim said, "Because Traz here forgot about one thing."

"What?" Traz asked.

"D18!" Nick answered and threw one of his few remaining charges at the Zerg leader.

Traz stepped back, allowing the charge to fly past him and stick to the wall. It beeped once, the Traz nodded to it and its light died, preventing the second beep and thus stopping the explosion.

"God damnit," Nick muttered.

Traz motioned to Draffos, who pushed Jax forward far enough to slice open the former Confederate's spinal column. Instantly paralyzed, Jax fell forward onto Nick, who caught him and slowed his decent to a gentle stop on the ground.

"Jax-"

"Nick, Nick, we were friends, right?" Jax asked, his voice cracked, "I mean, you weren't just saying that, were you?"

"No Jax," Nick said.

"I was wondering. Because, sometimes it seemed like you were making fun of me, and I thou-"

"Jax, shut up," Nick managed, "Just shut up."

"Thank you," Jax struggled to get out, "Thank you."

Jax's eyes blanked, losing the light that had been there and defined Jax as a person. What had made him likeable even throughout his senseless ramblings, the very thing that made him Fred Jax. Nick slowly lay his friend's head down and closed the tinted visor as ceremoniously as he could.

"Thank you, thank you," Traz mimicked, "How sad."

"Shut up!" Jim shouted and let loose a clip-full of spikes in Traz's direction.

One of the Slaughterlisk Elites took the hit for its master, soaking up every ounce of lead and falling to the floor, bleeding profusely. Traz laughed as a horde of Zerglings surged around his legs, heading directly for the Dogs of War. It was at this point that Jim bellowed the two words that every infantryman ever to face the Zerg held near and dear to their heart as the greatest order ever.

"Fall back!"


	98. Chapter 98

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 98: The Show Must Go On**

A storage room door burst open ahead of Jim and a horde of Winglings poured out, scraping the walls with their claws as they came.

"Scarab front and center!" Jim shouted over his shoulder.

Hus'ta lobbed one of his vibrant blue charges into the Zerg cluster. It collided with the side of one of the creatures and detonated, sending a blue wave of heat across its companions. Blood splattered across the floor, walls and ceiling as the Dogs ran past. Nick paused long enough to empty his pistols into the wave at their rear, killing a handful of enemies that were immediately replaced by a unit from further back.

Jim popped open a channel to the _Shogoki_ just as he slammed another clip into his Impaler. "Katsuragi, get the engines fired up!"

"What the hell is going on down there Jim?" she asked.

Jim spun on his heel and fired a rocket between Nanius and Ruktoch, sending it into the coming swarm. "We've got two KIA and a lot of Zerg!" he shouted over the wailing aliens.

"Adanis, Kenas: hold them!" Ruktoch bellowed.

"Yes Executor!" the two Zealots replied, wheeling on the Zerg, shoulder to shoulder with their psi blades blazing.

The Zerg mobbed them, focusing all their strength on the two Protoss. As Jim stepped through the door to the hanger, he turned and watched as the noble Zealots fell beneath the tide of carapace and blood. The rest of the group made it through the door and Jim shut and locked it, silently hoping that it would keep the Zerg at bay for at least long enough for the _Shogoki _to get free and clear of the complex.

But upon turning around and seeing the hanger bay, all hope was drained from his system. Zerg crawled over the _Shogoki_, having come in courtesy of the Nydus worm protruding from one wall. The ship reminded Jim of a carcass that had flies crawling across it, eating its flesh. Increasing the magnification in his visor, Jim spotted Katsuragi and Hyuga, standing on the bridge, the helmsman with an AGR assault rifle and the Captain with her service pistol.

Winglings crawled into the open front of the bridge only to be decapitated by the small arms fire and tossed back into their comrades.

"Katsuragi get down!" Jim shouted, "Everyone: hit the bridge!"

A volley of scarabs, Impaler, canister rifle and scythe pistol fire poured into the bridge, blowing instruments off their mounts and shredding Zerg bodies into pieces. The remaining Zerg, who hadn't gotten to the bridge yet, turned and looked down at the men who had cleared the area and started forward.

On the bridge, Hyuga crawled out from under the tactics table and activated the automatic laser array controls. A second later, the turrets situated around the ship activated and swung into position to fire on the Zerg mob positioned in a crossfire on the ship's bow. Amazingly, the various Winglings and Slaughterlisks seemed to stop and realize what was about to happen to them, each experiencing its own moment of clarity.

Then the turrets fired and spewed charred remains of Zerg all across the top of the ship.

The invasion ramp dropped and Katsuragi ushered them aboard from the bridge. Taking her advice, they entered the ship and closed the ramp behind them.

"Okay, boys and girls, hold on," the purple-haired captain said over the intercom.

Hyuga lifted the ship off of the ground, blowing smoke around the hanger and into the Nydus worm's open mouth. The massive exit door opened, revealing the dark canyon beyond. The _Shogoki _did an about face and pulled out into the night air.

Back in the hanger, Traz sliced open the door with his wings and entered just in time to see the tail end of the Battlecruiser as it flew up and out of sight.

"Shit," he muttered, having just lost them again.

Thankfully, he had a backup plan.

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Tarsonis, no matter how infested and creep covered, still had amazing smelling air at night. Katsuragi wouldn't have disliked it so much if she were outside, where it was supposed to smell like night air. But she was on her bridge, which should smell like shitty Terran ship air, not nice Tarsonis night air. It pissed her off.

And her tactics table was ruined. So she had no main screen, no tactics table, and on top of that there was clean air in her bridge. So when the door opened and Jim entered, she decided to focus all her anger on him.

"Thanks asshole. My tactics table is ruined. Now where am I supposed to work on my tactics, huh? You're buying me a new one."

"Know what, Katsuragi?" Jim said, "I've got two dead men, a Protoss family feud, the Zerg breathing down my neck, a splitting headache, no way off this damn world and the fucking Mercer hasn't gone off yet. So I really don't need to worry about your God damn tactics table, alright?"

"Who died?"

Jim spun around to see Ayanami standing in the open doorway wearing a white tank top and jeans with blue blood splashed across them.

"Whose blood is that?" Jim asked.

"Nanius had a cut on his face and I stitched it," she said, "Who died?"

"Jax and…" Jim's voice trailed off and he couldn't meet her eyes, "I'm sorry."

Ayanami put two and two together in her head. She stood silent for a moment, soaking in the truth. Then her eyes started to fill with tears and she fled from the bridge, the door automatically closing behind her with a merciless swish.

The entire bridge was silent for a moment, no one looking at anyone, until Hyuga spoke up. "Hey, I know that we're all in a world of shit right now, but I did find some good news. I just scanned the UED landing site. It appears as though its been raided as well."

"Move us in, please," Jim said quietly, "Maybe we can help each other out and get that damn Mercer to work."


	99. Chapter 99

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 99: On the Turning Away**

Small fires dotted the destroyed mass of military equipment that used to be the UED fleet. Flying over the crash site, the _Shogoki _cast beams of light from its two remaining spotlights down across the destruction. As the illumination washed over the scraps a few survivors scurried away in fright, their psyche's shattered by the recent Zerg attack.

"Holy shit," Hyuga said as the spotlights found a Battlecruiser that had been turned over on its top and gutted like a fish.

"What the hell could have done that?" Katsuragi wondered aloud.

Jim merely stood still and eyed the scene before him, holding his Impaler, subconsciously keeping the barrel in the general direction of the open air five feet in front of him. He looked to Katsuragi, standing in the light of an emergency holographic tablet she had brought out of a closet. Blood covered her uniform and half of her face, the other half covered by the general grime associated with living in a badly damaged war vessel. To Jim, she looked as if she had finally become part of the Korpulu Sector, not just an outsider whose group worked with his out of mutual gain.

Nick entered the bridge, soon followed by Ruktoch and Hus'ta. His helmet was off, and an air of gloom seemed to hang over the Reaper even thicker than normal. Three D18 charges were attached to his waist, all that remained in their entire inventory.

"What do you want to do?" Katsuragi asked.

Jim turned, realizing he was being spoken to. "Set us down somewhere," he said, "We'll need to recover the Mercer from the wreckage."

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"Ayanami?" Nanius said, entering the medical bay.

The medic was sitting at her desk, back to the door, with her head in her arms. Next to her on the desk, Fluffy the Ursadon pawed at her arm to try and get her to move. Absently, she pushed him away, only to have the little white creature hop back over to her and head butt her elbow. Nanius picked the small pet up and moved it to the floor, pulling up a chair with his other hand.

He sat down, the chair wheezing under the weight of his armored body. He looked at her distraught mop of blue hair, and for the first time in his existence, Nanius didn't know how to articulate his thoughts.

"Gabriel was my friend," he said finally, clasping both of his oversized Protoss hands together between his knees, "He saved us, all of us, shortly before his death. If it was not for him, I would not be speaking with you right now. I do not fail to realize the grief you are experiencing right now, as I am feeling it myself, though most likely in a lesser degree.

"But sadness is not something to be measured against itself, for it is universal in its effect," Nanius stopped, realizing he was getting off-topic in a way that would alienate him from the mourning medic before him, "Gabriel once told me that you were what kept him going. Did he ever inform you of this?"

"Yes," Ayanami confirmed quietly, still with her head in her arms.

"Ah, I see," Nanius said, then unable to continue, stood and strode toward the door.

When he had reached it, and turned to look back over the medical bay, something dawned on him. "This room," he said, "Has harbored many good feelings over the past months. Please do not steel its virginity for depression."

With that, Nanius left the medical bay, the door sealing behind him. Fluffy bumped into Ayanami's leg, emitting a small whine in the process. It fell back on its rear, looking up at its master's thin frame. Then, slowly, a pale feminine hand descended and gingerly scratched its head.

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"Your light isn't working," Nick told Jim.

Jim smacked his shoulder lamp with his hand, causing it to flicker a few times before finally emitting a steady, healthy beam of light. They were standing just outside of the _Shogoki_, on the edge of the landing site. The away party to find the Mercer Device consisted of Jim, Nick and Nanius. It had been decided that the smaller the party the better, considering that the last thing they wanted to do was attract attention in an unsecured area with who knew how many hostiles.

It had begun raining, large plops of rain that only a Tarsonis storm front could produce. Most of the small rubble fires that had been smoldering around the site had died in the first few minutes of the precipitation, though a few of them burned strongly enough to withstand the rain for the moment. Jim was about to give the order to move out when Ayanami exited the ship in her armor and holding her Impaler.

Jim walked back to her, careful to keep his shoulder lamp indirectly on her face. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, looking directly at him.

"Okay," Jim said, then turned back to the destruction before them, "Let's finish this."


	100. Chapter 100

**StarCraft: Brain Damage**

**Chapter 100: Eclipse**

A Battlecruiser's hammerhead front end lay smashed against the side of the _Epyon_, leaning against it like some dying titanic creature as the rain poured down and streamed across its scarred surface. Jim walked beneath it, taking shelter from the rain as he did so. The starbase itself had been sheared in half, the two sides lying so that they formed a very wide V shape.

Upon reaching the base of the destroyed ship, Jim turned to the rest of the search team. "Find an entrance."

They spread out, checking the immediate vicinity for any kind of way in. Jim pulled a jagged piece of steal aside with a yank of his armored glove and shone his shoulder lamp into the opening beneath. Staring back at him was the one good eye of a UED engineer. The other eye had been ravaged by multiple bite marks to the face, probably from a Zergling or Wingling.

"Found one," he said to the rest of the team, not raising his voice enough to be heard by any nearby hostiles. He had seen movement among the wreckage and didn't have any wish to find out what had caused it.

As they entered _Epyon_ it became instantly apparent that the Zerg forces had had a heyday. Blood was smeared along the walls in long streaks as if the source had been dragged along, screaming most likely, to a bloody end. Here and there severed limbs lay on the floor alongside piles of dismembered bodies to where it was impossible to assign an arm to a body or vice versa.

"Let's split up and find this thing," Jim said, "Ayanami, Nanius: search the lower decks. Nick, come with me."

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Hyuga pulled back with his right arm, moving the massive piece of salvaged battleplate into an even position across the gaping hole that had been an eyesore on the bridge. With his SCV's other arm, he brought around a, arc welder and started to seal the plate's edge into place against the bulkhead. Once the weld was complete, he took two heavy steps backward and admired his work.

"Does that look straight to you, Captain?" he asked Katsuragi.

She merely nodded in return, and handed him the small holo-tab she had been toting around for the past hour and a half.

"What do I do with this?" he asked, grasping it with his left-hand industrial clamp.

"Weld that to my chair's arm," Katsuragi told him, "I don't want it flying around and breaking in combat."

Hyuga sighed. "Yes ma'am."

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Jim gripped the edge of right side door while Nick grabbed the left. "Three, two, one, go!" he said and pulled.

Nick pulled as well, and together they forced open the door to the _Epyon_'s mobile space hanger. The lights that had adorned the vaulted ceiling were out, a few hanging from their wiring and presenting a possible hazard for anyone walking throughout the room. Thankfully, it seemed as though only the two Dogs were either stupid or crazy enough to try it.

Looking around, Jim didn't see Asuka's Dark Templar ship anywhere. He wasn't sure if he should have felt relieved or worried about that.

"I don't see it either," Nick said as if he could read Jim's thoughts.

"Well, without the rest of her troops, and without a base to stay in, I don't much blame her for leaving," Jim said.

An icon appeared in his visor, indicating a call from Ayanami. "Goss here," he answered, greeting her with all the bluntness he was expected to deliver.

"We found the Mercer," she told him, "Sending you our position now."

"We'll be there in a minute," Jim said, "Sit tight."

Retreating from the hanger, Jim and Nick headed down a dark elevator shaft that during the destruction had been knocked into a steep slant capable of being walked down with great care. They arrived at the bottom to a corridor full of dead Zerg and UED bodies, and at the middle of it all was the Mercer, sitting on its side.

Nanius knelt beside it, checking for any damage to the external casing while Ayanami stood watch near him, her rifle held one-handed at her side.

"Status?" Jim asked, kneeling down across the device from his Protoss comrade.

"It appears to be in working condition, though I am puzzled as to how it managed being hurtled down this hallway so far from its intended chamber of storage," Nanius replied.

"Well, let's not worry about how," Jim said, "Now where's the thing that gets it underground?"

"Up there," Ayanami answered, pointing up the gently sloping corridor.

"Nick, go help her get it. Nanius and I'll get this thing out to the _Shogoki_," Jim said,

Nick silently went off to help Ayanami, the two of them trudging off up the corridor to where a jammed-open door revealed the large spider-like apparatus needed for launching the Mercer into the ground. Jim picked up one end of the massive cylinder while Nanius handled the other, and together they started to wrestle it toward a nearby hole in the ship.

Once they were out of the burning, stuffy inside of the starbase and back out into the raining, dismal outside of the wreckage, Jim opened up a channel to Katsuragi.

"We've got the package. Be on the look out for us," he said.

"Roger that, Jim," Katsuragi replied, "But be quick. Rain's supposed to clear in about a half hour."

"So what?" Jim asked.

"Traz can get his airforce into action if this rain stops," she said, "And I mean the exploding kind."

"Copy. Goss out."

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Katsuragi watched as Ayanami helped Nick wheel the massive launching apparatus into position beneath the _Shogoki_. Hyuga was down there in the crew's SCV, helping to move the Mercer into its launching tube under one of the bow spotlights. Everyone was down there: Ruktoch, Nanius, Jim, Nick, Ayanami, Hus'ta and even Hyuga.

Everyone but Katsuragi, who was totally content to sit up in her bridge and watch the whole thing via her miniature main screen welded to her chair arm while enjoying the shitty smell of her air filters.

Down below, Hyuga messed with the electronics of the launcher, all the while keeping up a running commentary on how the thing worked.

"The device itself has a molecular destabilizer on the front of it, which allows it to move through the crust, mantle and into the core. However, in order to gain the momentum to make it all the way there, it requires this launching device, which acts as a massive catapult and hurls it downward at the speed of a-"

"Hey Hyuga?" Jim asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah Major?" the helmsman-turned-mechanic replied.

"Can you get it to work?"

"Yes."

"Then please leave out the lesson on physics and calibrate it, okay?"

Nanius chuckled at Jim's remark, remembering a similar conversation with him. Hyuga continued on in silence for a few more minutes, and then, just as the sun poked its head out over the horizon, he pulled his hands back in victory.

"I got it!" he exclaimed.

"Good," Jim said, "Now all we have to do is launch it-"

"Oh my God. Jim!" Ayanami shouted from behind him.

"Let me guess," Jim said, slowly turning around to look, "Zerg?"

Over the nearest ridgeline, a colossal creature appeared. Like an Ultralisk, only much, much bigger and with four serrated tentacles large enough to shred a Battlecruiser. It was now abundantly clear what had cut Admiral Rokubungi's starbase flagship in half.

"Wow," Nick said with all the dryness of autumn leaves crinkling, "Good call."

"Katsuragi, please tell me the Yamato gun works," Jim said over the radio.

"The Yamato gun works," she said back, with her cringe almost audible over the radio.

"Are you lying?" Jim asked.

"Yes," she replied, "A Baneling rolled down it and took out the internal components back in the hanger."

Jim sighed, racking the bolt on his Impaler. "Hyuga: get the Mercer and its launcher inside the ship. Nick: get the Jackal, and Ayanami: stay on the bridge. The last thing I need when fighting this thing is a Zergling sneaking into the ship and killing the command crew."

"I think Hyuga and I could handle a Zergling," Katsuragi put in over the radio.

"Well, if a Baneling can take out the Yamato cannon-" Jim said.

"Shut up," she retorted and closed the line.

As the Terran crewmembers took off to do their respective jobs, Ruktoch stepped forward before Jim. "What would you have us do?" he asked, gesturing to himself and Hus'ta, but notably not to Nanius.

"We're gonna stay down here on the ground and apply pressure, theoretically," Jim replied, watching the huge creature lumber down into the landing site, its footfalls shaking the earth as it came.

_"Witness the might of the Omegalisk!" _Traz's voice boomed through Jim's head, _"Shake in its presence! Are you afraid?"_

Jim responded with the same image that he had given Asuka upon being reunited with her.

_"Charming, Jim, but I'm afraid you'll need more than a vivid imagination to down this titan," _Traz told him.

"We'll see about that, Traz," Jim replied, seeing Nick pull around in the Jackal just as the _Shogoki _kicked up dust and took flight, "We'll see about that."

The cockpit on the Jackal opened up and Jim hopped in the back seat, strapping himself in with the steel top-down harness. Pulling off his gloves, he tapped into the weaponry controls just as Nick floored it, lurching the vehicle forward and across the dirt plain surrounding the wreckage. The Jackal screamed across the area, dirt and rock fountaining up behind it.

Jim swung the multi-weapon turret mounted on the back around into place and locked onto the Omegalisk's head. He fired a volley of napalm missiles that ripped through the rain-filled air straight for the creature. They collided with it; exploding and spreading flame across the target's skin. The Omegalisk roared, shattering the remains of bulletproof glass in bunkers surrounding the ruined landing site.

"Nanius, Ruktoch and Hus'ta: pull back into the wreckage and hold position," Jim said over his headset, while at the same time tapping commands into the weapons console, "Katsuragi: circle until further notice. Stay out of the range of that thing's tentacles. Fire on it if possible, but don't do anything stupid."

After closing the channel, Jim tapped Nick on the shoulder. "Get us in between its legs."

"I feel as though this ranks right up there with 'Nick, let's jump on a Zerg spaceship with a nuke' in terms of insanity," Nick replied, "Let's do it."

The Jackal made an abrupt turn, narrowly avoiding one of the Omegalisk's tentacles, which instead hammered its way into the ground and spread dirt across half an acre. The other three came down behind the small vehicle as it sped below the creature's head, spraying one of its legs with napalm as it went.

Jim aimed straight up and emptied an auto cannon into its underbelly, the rounds merely bouncing off in most places. One round, however, managed to slip in between a scale and draw a droplet of blood. The Omegalisk, seething in irritation, swept under its body with all four of its massive tentacles. Nick jerked the wheel to the left, dodging a tentacle by mere inches, and tore out from under it on the opposite side.

"Now let's see if we can get big dopey to follow us," Jim muttered, "Head into the wreckage."

The Jackal jumped the defense trench and entered the landing site, speeding under an overturned dropship's tail. Nick hit the brake and screeched to a halt, the Jackal ending up parallel to the _Epyon_ next to it and in plain view of the Omegalisk.

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As the titanic Zerg creature laid its eyes on the Jackal and started forward with renewed vigor fueled by a primal lust for the blood of its attacker, Nanius firmed his stance, winding his entire body into a coil of focused energy. Beside him, his brother and nephew did the same, each one preparing for the feat that lay sixty meters in front of them.

The Omegalisk passed the trench and entered the wreckage; its front left foot crushing a downed Valkryie into powdered metal. It pulled one of its tentacles back, aiming for the Jackal. Then, like an organic, over-sized piston, the tentacle came down, smashing into bare ground. The Jackal screamed past the confused creature, jets of blue flame shooting out of its exhaust.

Then Nanius was in motion, sprinting faster than any Terran could ever hope to, up the side of a crashed Battlecruiser. His legs pumped unfalteringly, and continued to do so even as he cleared the end of the downed warship and flew through the air. He smashed into the side of the Omegalisk, using his psi blades to get a hold on the smooth carapace plating.

Hus'ta slammed into position at his right elbow, while Ruktoch landed on his left. Together, the three Protoss scaled the side of the Omegalisk. Nanius sensed one of the tentacles coming at him from behind, and yanked both of his psi blades out. The tentacle smashed into the place he had just been in, cutting through the thick scale and skin beneath it.

The Omegalisk wailed in agony and yanked the tentacle out. Nanius, who had reattached himself to the creature a dozen feet below, tucked his chin to his chest as blood rained down on him.

"Hurry brother!" Ruktoch called down as Hus'ta went ahead.

"Go on!" Nanius shouted up, "I will go this way!"

As Ruktoch resumed his climb upwards, Nanius started sideways toward the creature's head. He threw himself sideways as another tentacle dove for him, and caused yet another blood-gushing wound.

"Father!" he heard Hus'ta cry out from above.

In panic, Nanius resumed his climb up, and reached the top to be greeted by the sight of a standoff. Ruktoch stood, staff in hand, in front of Hus'ta, who was being held from behind by Traz. The infested Ghost's clawed fingers caressed the young Zealot's neck, ready to at a moment's notice slice his head clean off.

"Set him down," Ruktoch said calmly, helpless to do anything at the moment besides stand and stare.

Traz grinned. "No."

Blue blood sprayed into the air, and Hus'ta tumbled over the side of the Omegalisk, hurtling toward the ground. Acting on emotion-based impulse, Ruktoch charged Traz, his staff ready to cave the Zerg leader's head in with one sweep. Traz stepped back; the staff whiffing by just shy of his chin, and lurched forward with his razor wings.

Ruktoch was impaled through and through in several places, but was still alive to see the final wingtip dive at his forehead. Nanius heard a sickening bone cracking noise and saw his brother's blood spatter across the brown back of the Omegalisk.

Traz laughed and casually tossed Ruktoch's body aside, rolling it down the creature's side to join Hus'ta, wherever he was.

"So, Nanius," Traz said, "Care to rush me as your brother did?"

Nanius brought his psi blades up to bear-

-and was hit by the blunt side of a tentacle as it passed by on its way to attack the Jackal again. He flew through the air, far away from the creature he had been on just a moment before. He smacked into a destroyed siege tank, a bunker, a dropship wing and bounced on until he came to a stop up against the side of a crashed Viking.

Now unable to move due to two broken legs, Nanius was forced to sit and watch as the Omegalisk chased the Jackal around in what was fast becoming a predictable track.

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Jim saw the tentacle coming, opened his mouth to warn Nick, but ended up acting to late. The appendage smashed into the side of the Jackal, sending it tumbling with the shattered cockpit throwing glass in every which direction. Eventually the vehicle stopped tumbling and slid to a stop upside down. Jim unlatched his harness and crawled out in the opposite of the Omegalisk, which was just beginning to change its course toward them.

"Nick, you alive in there?" Jim asked, kneeling down and shaking his friend's shoulder.

"If I'm not," the Reaper muttered, "Then heaven is the lamest place I've ever been."

Jim pulled him out; discovering in the process that the man's left leg was lying on the floorboard. Thankfully, his armor had sealed the opening, keeping him from bleeding to death. But considering that the largest Zerg ground organism ever to exist was heading directly for them, it didn't really seem that big of a deal.

"Hey look, I've only got one leg," Nick said, leaning back on his elbows once he was free of the vehicle.

"Yeah, you do," Jim replied, falling down beside him.

By mutual consent, they had both agreed without speaking that running would be pointless, as the creature assaulting them took steps upwards of three hundred feet at a time. Laying there, looking at impending doom advancing on them, Jim noticed that Nick didn't even seem to care, instead staring at the sky as the rain finally cleared up and color returned to the world.

"You remember Jordan?" Nick asked, not bothering to look at Jim.

Jim laughed a bit despite the situation. "Yeah, yeah I remember him."

"That was a silly thing of him to do, wasn't it?" Nick asked.

"I would say so," Jim agreed.

A thud shook the ground, and the Jackal moved as the Omegalisk's shadow cast over them, blotting out Nick's view of the sky. A tentacle raised into the air, positioning itself sadistically a few meters above them, as it to mock them just before death. It pulled back, readied itself-

_"Mercer away!"_

An object blew through the Omegalisk's head, smashing its way through carapace, skull and brain, and forcing the entire cranial structure off of its mounting, before powering into the dirt in a spray of brown. The Omegalisk's head fell to the earth, sending what seemed like a tectonic shock through the crust.

Just as its body started to follow, the _Shogoki _blew past, cargo bay door open and Hyuga standing in it, the Mercer launching device empty at his elbow. The Omegalisk hit the ground; its tentacles splaying across the earth like that of a massive Antigan sea fossil. Blood drooled from its neck as the spasms of death finally stopped shaking its massive frame, and the plain was silent.

Save for the laughing of two Terran men next to the destroyed Jackal.

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Ayanami and Jim sat Nick down on an examination table next to Nanius, who had been the first person to be picked up when Katsuragi swung the ship back around to retrieve the ground team.

"What's the word on the two of them?" Jim asked Ayanami.

"They'll be fine, though I wouldn't count on them moving for a couple of days. I'll have a prosthetic ready for Nick in twenty-six hours, and Nanius just needs to heal up," she said.

"Okay," Jim said, "Keep an eye on them."

He exited the medical bay and trotted down the corridor to the elevator. The doors closed and he punched the key for the bridge. Too many people had died for him to count just on the Mercer alone to kill Traz. He wanted to be sure that the bastard died, wanted to kill him with his own two hands. And the only possible way for him to do that would be to go after him now, when there were no other distractions.

The doors opened and Jim stepped onto the bridge.

"Hey, Jim," Katsuragi said, "You're just in time for first phase's inception."

The ship lurched and Katsuragi's compact screen showed the landing site below them erupt into a pillar of molten hot lava, boiling into the air to a height of two hundred feet. Unfortunately, the wreckage, dead Omegalisk and additional sixty thousand Zerg that Traz had flooded the area with after the _Shogoki_'s departure were incinerated in the process.

"Can we still track the Disrupter?" Jim asked point blank.

"Yes, but wh-" her eyes went wide with realization, "No, no you can't do that!"

"I have to," Jim said bluntly.

"Why?" she asked, "We're tearing the planet apart! The Zerg here will be dead in a couple of hours when the third stage starts! He won't survive, and if you're down there then neither will you! So why do it?"

Jim suddenly, unable to contain it any more, went off like a tank shell. "Because of Jax, and because of Tanner, and Shinji, and Aoba, and all the other people that have died because that little weasel is alive! As long as he's still alive then I can't sleep at night!" he screamed, "And either I'll see him dead or I'll die trying, but one of the two is going to happen! So fucking pull up his position, and take me there, or so help me God I'll do it myself!"

Katsuragi was silent in wide-eyed surprise at the most emotion she had ever seen Jim unleash at any one time. Finally, numbly, she opened up a window on her holo board and downloaded a program to a handheld scanner device.

"Here," she said quietly as she handed him the device.

Jim snatched it out of her hand.

"Hyuga, lay in a course for Mt. Taurus," Katsuragi said, sitting back down in her seat, "We'll drop you in on top. Call us when you need a pick up."

"Thank you," Jim said, looking over his shoulder as he left.

Katsuragi didn't bother to turn around.

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With lava fissures opening up all across the planet the sky had become blood red as Jim exited the _Shogoki_. The ship rocketed off just as his boots cleared the invasion ramp, understandable considering the lava that was now beginning to surround Mt. Taurus. As the highest mountain peak on Tarsonis, it was only natural that Traz would retreat here while trying to evacuate his Broods.

Zerg transport vessels had been loading up for the past hour off of the outcropping Jim was now standing on. He had been dropped off during a lull in loading as the Zerg waited for another transport. Now with them all focused on the retreating _Shogoki_, Jim was able to slip past them on a low pathway and into the mountain through a small opening in the cliff face.

Armed with an Impaler, his CMC 300 armor and a Flak pistol, Jim pressed his way through the small opening, the rock scrapping his armor. After about twenty feet, he came to an overlook of a massive open area. A pit had been dug out at the bottom of the area, creating a kind of arena with sloped sides. At one end, Jim could see a wall was missing, and beyond it he could see the churning sea of lava that lay below the mountain.

Attached to Jim's wrist was the data pad that Katsuragi had given him, and on it was a light that blinked more and more the closer he was to a source of Disrupter Fluid. It was blinking like crazy now, but Jim didn't see Traz anywhere in the pit below his overlook.

"Hi Jim," a familiar, raspy voice cooed in his ear.

Before Jim could reply, Traz had thrown him off the overlook and down into the pit-like arena below. Jim landed on his back, his Impaler laying seven feet from him. He saw Traz swoop into the air and come crashing down in front of him; the same nasty grin on his face that had always been there since Jim had first seen him.

Jim went for his Flak pistol, and managed to get it out of its holster and into line with Traz's head. He squeezed the trigger and the pistol bucked, sending a round at Traz's face. The bullet stopped just shy of impact, and fell to the ground, useless.

"Pity," Traz said, "Now your bullets don't even hit me. Have they lost power somehow?"

A razor wing swept down and cleaved the pistol in half, reducing it to a useless hunk of garbage. Traz spread his arms wide, silently beckoning to his Zerg children, whom obediently skittered, chirping and squealing, into the chamber. They filed up into the rising sides of the amphitheater, eager to watch their father make a bloody theatrical spectacle of dispatching the poor, misguided Terran below.

"So it has come to this," Traz mused, watching Jim scramble backward, "Crawling away, tail between your legs. Such a terrifying Dog of War you are. What did you think you were going to do? Come in here and kill me?"

Jim reached back, expecting to feel ground beneath his hand, and instead almost fell out of the mountain. Looking back behind him, he saw the red glow of lava far below, and for the first time in a long time felt fear rise up in him.

"Well, Jim, it is here that your journey ends. Like that of those you came here to avenge, your death will be an embarrassing display of Terran weakness," Traz said, unlimbering his C10.

"No, but yours will."

Traz turned around and was met with the sight of a green warp scythe that quickly sliced off his arm sending the C10 to the ground where a dying spasm of the index finger pumped a round into the rock wall nearby. Jim watched as Asuka smacked Traz across the face, sending him stumbling backward, before slicing a deep cut in his thigh.

Traz started to stand and charge, when Asuka grabbed him around the throat, and locked eyes with him. Her eyes brightened green to the point where Jim had to shield his own to avoid being blinded.

"Look at me, Traz," she hissed.

Traz's mouth opened in a silent scream as the very essence of his being was crudely transferred from his body, literally torn free of his body and ripped out through his eyes, nose and mouth, only to be absorbed into the vibrant creature holding him quivering in the grasp of one hand. His feet scrapped around in the light layer of dust that coated the floor in uncontrollable spasms. His eyes burst from the heat of his soul, as they could no longer withstand it. His wings shot out straight in agony, convulsing as if of their own conscious.

Then the light went away, and Traz fell to the ground, his black eye sockets unseeing, his body devoid of all emotion. But he was not dead, not yet, as his heart still beat, and his brain still worked. He could not remember who he was, and all his senses relayed to his mind one thing: absolute, unadulterated, fear.

Jim dropped his hand and looked around. Traz lay on the ground, his once majestic wings curled up and quivering in fright. The Zerg seated along the walls were absolutely still, not one of them seemed to be thinking. And Asuka was gone.

"Jim!" a voice called out.

Turning around, Jim saw Nick hobbled against a bulkhead on the invasion ramp of the _Shogoki_, which had pulled up to the ridge he was laying on.

"Get on! The planet's about to rip itself to pieces!"

Jim stood up, took one last look at the ruined Traz, and grabbed the hand Nick was holding out to him. The ramp closed and the ship sped away, making a beeline for orbit to get out of the danger zone.

But back in Mt. Taurus, the Zerg snapped back into reality, and looked down at the form of their former master. Traz felt them creeping up on him, felt them breathing on his sickly green skin, and panicked. He let out a long, screeching, and very much human scream, before his own swarm tore his body apart.


	101. Epilogue

Epilogue

"So, what shall we do now?" Katsuragi asked Jim as Tarsonis tore itself apart below them.

"I don't know. I hadn't really thought it through to that point yet," Jim confessed, "How about you choose what to do this time?"

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jim said.

Katsuragi thought about it for a second. "You know, I kind of want to go home," she said after a minute.

"Then do it," Jim said, turning to leave the bridge, "Just drop me off somewhere first."

"Where're you going?" she asked, spinning around in her chair.

"I haven't slept in days," Jim muttered, "I'm going to bed."

He left, and the door slid shut behind him.

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Far away, on the other side of the burning planet, the Mistress of Shadows, Ghost of Raiders, and Commandant of Broods sat and pondered to herself.

"What shall I do now?"

**A/N: Thanks for reading this entire story, and even more importantly, thanks for reviewing it! I hope that it has been as much fun to read as it was to write. If you have any thoughts now that the entire journey has come to an end, please share them. As for the future, keep on checking the StarCraft section every so often. I do have a couple hundred ideas floating around in my head in the form of sequels, prequels and short stories all based around the characters and events of the story you just finished reading.**

**See you around.**

**Toasterman.**


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